Mid-19th Century Prints and Multiples

Ex Libris Jarmay Zoltan is an original Contemporary Artwork realized in the 19th Century. Original Ex Libris. Original B/W woodcut print on ivory-colored paper. Titled on the centr...

Carabinieri is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1853. Interesting colored lithograph which describes some members of the "Carabinieri a piedi": Vaulting in great cond...

First Royal Navy Regiment is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1855. Interesting colored lithograph which describes the Royal Navy Regiment: in the lithograph there ar...

Image dimensions: 15.5x22.5 cm. Defense of the Cemetery in Magenta is a beautiful artwork realized by Carlo Perrin in 1860. Hand colored litograph, published in Turin by Carlo Perr...

Royal Gendarmerie on foot is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1853. Interesting colored lithograph which describes an Officers of the Royal Gendarmerie: Provincial Se...

This splendid lithograph Interieur de Geneve. L'Hospital is part of the series of 20 prints dedicated to views of the city of Geneva, engraved by the Italian artist Antonio Fontanesi...

Regiment of Hunters on Horseback is a lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1854. Interesting colored lithograph which describes two members of the Regiment of Hunters on Horseback: a...

Colonel of the I Swiss Regiment is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1855. Interesting colored lithograph which describes a Colonel of the I Swiss Regiment riding his ...

Royal Guards is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples, 1854. Interesting colored lithograph which describes the Royal Guards, Two Officers in dressing uniform. In excelle...

Real Guard is a lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1852. Interesting colored lithograph which describes two members of the Real Guard: Troop Individual in great condition and Troop...

Second Royal Navy Regiment is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1854. Interesting colored lithograph which describes the Royal Navy Regiment: in the lithograph there a...

Leopoldo Borbone is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1853. Interesting colored lithograph which describes Leopoldo Borbone, Prince of Salerno, Colonel General, Comman...

Hussars of the Royal Guard is a lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1852. Interesting colored lithograph which describes an Official of the Hussars Regiment riding his horse. In ex...

VIII Hunter Battalion is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1853. Interesting colored lithograph which describes some members of the Hunter Battalion: A Spoiler in grea...

Portrait of Ferdinand II is an original lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Interesting colored lithograph which describes the arrival of Ferdinand II,...

Scêne d'Hippophagie is a b/w lithographed plate (n. 21), from the series containing a total of 120 satiric prints, Croquis Parisiens, realized by Honoré Daumier (France, 1808-1879)....

Wedding Procession is an original etching of paper realized by Jean Vandekerkhove in 1860 ca. Good conditions except for some folding and stains. Signed on the plate on the lower r...

Arabic is an original modern artwork realized in 1854 by Lacoste Jean Luis. Original Hand-colored lithograph on paper. Plate signed on the lower, titled lowe...

Un Repas D’hippophages is the title of this b/w lithographed plate, realized by Honoré Daumier (France, 1808-1879), that appeared on February 20th, 1856 in the French periodical, Le ...

L'inconvénient de Diner Chez un Savant (…) is a b/w lithographed plate (n. 59), from the suites of caricatures on political themes “Actualités”, realized by Honoré Daumier (France, 1...

Silente Cinema is an amusing satirical illustration by the French illustrator and caricaturist, Cham (alias Count Amédée de Noé, 1818-1879). Beautiful b/w lithograph on ivory colore...

Bath in Algeria is an original Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1846 by an Anonymous artist of the 19th century. Titled in Italian on the lower center. The state of pr...

Patriotic Icon is an original modern artwork realized in the 1848 in Italy. The work includes three historial lithographs depicting the Italian "Lira". Passepartout is included. Im...

L’inconvénient d’être dans un wagon is a b/w lithograph (plate n.5) from the satirical print series “Les Trains de Plaisir”, composed of caricatures “de mœurs” (of behaviours), realized by Honoré Daumier (France, 1808-1879) in 1852. This plate, published by the Maison Martinet, Paris, appeared on the French periodical, Le Charivari, in 1852. Printed by the lithographer Charles Trinocq. Reference: H. Delteil, Catalogue Raisonnée, 2329. Inscriptions: Monogrammed on stone, h.D, 433. Complete Caption: L’inconvénient d’être dans un wagon où il y a des voyageurs qui deviennent susceptibles dis qu’ils ont un peu trop bu. Superb specimen, full margins, depicting a dark train-wagon with the consequent human chaos, is in excellent condition, with imperceptible aging signs (light redness and some traces of oxydation on the margins). A copy of the same plate is preserved at the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.S. Bibliography: 1906 Delteil, Loys. Le peintre-graveur illustre. 31 vols. Paris: Published by the author, 1906-1926. Reprint. New York: Collectors Editions, Da Capo Press, 1969. Vol. 30 (Albert Besnard) is by Louis Godefroy...

Red Knights of D'Abd-el-kader is an original Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1846 by an Anonymous artist. Titled on the lower center " Cavalieri Rossi D'Abd-el-kader"....

Figures of Women is an original lithograph on ivory-colorated paper by an unknown artist in 1840s. In very good condition. Not signed. Monogrammed J.P.

Parisiens surpris par la marée (…) is a b/w lithograph (plate n.13) from the satirical series “Les Trains de Plaisir”, composed of caricatures “de mœurs” (of behaviours), realized by...

Une Visite Aux Bains is a b/w lithographed plate (n. 2o), from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “Croquis d’Été”. Realized by Honoré Daumier (France, 1808-1879), ...

Ce qui nus prouve (…) is a original b/w lithograph (plate n. 4), from La Fluidomanie. This is a satiric series composed of 12 plates of caricatures “de mœurs” (of behaviours), real...

Pauvre France is an original litograph, realized by Jean-Jacques Grandville in 1831, plate 164 from La Caricature n°82. Included a frame. In very good conditions. Here the artwork...

This splendid lithograph Interieur de Geneve. Bourg De Four is part of the series of 20 prints dedicated to views of the city of Geneva, engraved by the Italian artist Antonio Fontan...

The House is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E.Laport in about 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused stains. Hand-colored. Plate no.3. Sh...

Workers is an original lithograph on paper applied on cardboard realized by Denis Auguste Marie Raffet in 1854. Signed on the plate on the lower left and dated. Good conditions. T...

Image dimensions: 12.5 x 19.5 cm. Fonte Canapina (Canapina Fount) is an original work realized by Luigi Bartolini in 1940. Original etching on China paper applied. Hand-signed in ...

Paris Landscape, Title Page" Eaus Fortes" is an original etching artwork on paper realized in 1838 by Eugène Bléry (1805-1887). Signed on the plate lower center of the image. The State of preservation is very good except for diffused foxing along the white margin which does not affect the image. The artwork represents in an oval frame the landscape. The artwork is depicted skillfully through confident and precise strokes with harmonious composition.Eugène Stanislas Alexandre Bléry (Fontainebleau, March 3, 1805 - Paris, June 10, 1887) was a French engraver and draftsman.He also made large collections of etchings, such as Forests and landscapes and the surroundings of Fontainebleau, starting from his drawings or from works by Dutch authors such as Meindert Hobbema and Jacob van Ruisdael.

Image dimensions: 24.3 x 17.5 cm. Single sheet with passepartout. "...The unhappy man had approached that mysterious spot where, amid a thousand aquatic plants, the Water-arrow gr...

Image dimensions: 24.3 x 17.5 cm. Single sheet with passepartout. "...The unhappy man had approached that mysterious spot where, amid a thousand aquatic plants, the Water-arrow gr...

The Cat's Paw is an original artwork realized by John Doyle in 1831. Original colored lithograph. Published by Thomas McLean, London (as printed on the lower center). The artwork i...

Keisai Eisen Courtesan in a Leaping Koi Kimono Kakemono, 1842 花魁道中─鯉の滝のぼり打掛 Original Woodblock print Oban 72 x 25 cm Oiran Parade—Uchikake Kimono Decorated with a Design of Carps Cl...

The Capitol is a beautiful lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century and later watercolored. It represents ...

Après l'invasion is an original artwork realized by M.E. de Potestat in 1868. Original etching on paper. Signed on plate and dated on the lower left corner. Titled on the lower mar...

Hemisphere Of The New Continent - West is an artwork realized in 1834 by Johann Georg Heck Original colored print. Good conditions except for yellowing of the paper and very littl...

This splendid lithograph Interieur de Geneve. Cour Du Collège is part of the series of 20 prints dedicated to views of the city of Geneva, engraved by the Italian artist Antonio Font...

Abduction of Miss Gould Etching on copper. Image Dim:cm 11 x 9.2; Sheet Dim: cm 22 x 13.5. Passepartout Dim: cm 28.8 x 22 Title at the center. Signed on plate under the image: "PHIZ". From the series of 17 etchings on copper illustrating Charles Dickens's novels, published in London by "Thomas Tegg Cheapside" in XIX century. Browne Hablot Knight, alias Phiz, (Kensinghton 1815 - Brighton 1892) English painter, watercolorist and engraver. He illustrated books by Charles Dickens...

Courtnay shooting Lieut Bennett Etching on copper. Image Dim:cm 11 x 9.2; Sheet Dim: cm 22 x 13.5. Passepartout Dim: cm 28.6 x 20.8 Title at the center. Signed on plate under the i...

Image dimensions: 11.5 x 21.5 cm. Charges du Jour is an original color lithograph, realized in 1860 by Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). This was the cover of the print suit "Album des C...

The present hand-colored lithograph is an excellent example of patriotic mid-nineteenth century American imagery. The print shows the battle and several of the major figures involved in the Battle of Lake Erie: At the center is a view of several frigates on the lake, embroiled in conflict. Above the battle is the quotation: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Surrounding are laurel-lined roundels with portraits of Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819), Stephen Dicateur (1779-1820), Johnston Blakeley (1871-1814), William Bainbridge (1774-1833), David Porter (1780-1843), and James Lawrence (1781-1813) - all of these framed by American flags, banners and cannons. This print shows that the Battle of Lake Erie, part of the War of 1812, still held resonance for American audiences several decades later and was part of the larger narrative of the founding of the country. 9.5 x 13.5 inches, artwork 20 x 23.38 inches, frame Entitled in the image Signed in the stone, lower left "Lith. and Pub. by N. Currier" Inscribed lower right "2 Spruce N.Y." and "No. 1" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1846 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and housed in a gold gilded moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

Image dimensions: 14.7 x 19.8 cm. La Cava is an original black and white etching on paper, printed in 1843 as a plate of the print suite "90 Views of the citi...

Image dimensions: 24.3 x 17.5 cm. Single sheet with passepartout. "...The unhappy man had approached that mysterious spot where, amid a thousand aquatic plants, the Water-arrow gr...

Image dimensions: 24.3 x 17.5 cm. Single sheet with passepartout. "...The unhappy man had approached that mysterious spot where, amid a thousand aquatic plants, the Water-arrow gr...

Image dimensions: 31.5 x 25 cm. Published on: La Caricature, October 16, 1834 Not Signed. It includes passepartout. Good conditions except some mowings.

Image dimensions: 20 x 17.6 cm. Torquato Tasso is a beautiful black and white etching on paper, realized in XIX century by the Italian old master, Gius...

Lesti, Lesti al Timone is a beautiful hand-watercolored lithograph, realized in1848 by the Italian satirical artist Antonio Masutti (Aviano 1813-Tourin 1895). Title is printed in c...

Signed on plate.Original Prints. From the series “Les canotiers parisiens”, 1843. Catalogue Delteil N°1034. Image Dimensions : 20.5 x 27 cm This artwork i...

Offering a Flower is a beautiful black and white lithograph by the French artist Jean Bactiste Victor Loutrel (1821-1908). Signed on plate on lower right margin "V. Loutrel", and pr...

Colored lithograph with pouchoir details. Beautiful satiric illustration by the French draftsman Paul Gavarni (alias Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier Gavarni, 1804-1866). Plate 25, from...

Image dimensions: 23 x 19 cm. Monsieur Par suite De La Fusion... - From “Les philanthropes du jour” is an original artwork realized by Honoré Daumier in 1845/46. Original complete ...

Signed on plate, “Raffet San Donato Février 1858”. Title “Artilleurs allant prendre service des Batteries n. 1 e n.2, Siège de Rome, 5 juin 1849” was printed at the centre. “Paris,G...

Colored lithograph with pouchoir details. Beautiful satiric illustration by the French draftsman Paul Gavarni (alias Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier, 1804-1866). Plate 7, from the seri...

Amusing original colored lithograph with pouchoir details. Fine satiric illustration by the French draftsman Edmé-Jean Pigal (1798-1872) with a marked English humor. Plate 13, from...