Art Dealers Association of America Prints

Probably one of a kind, this very rare hand painted lithograph image is advertising the world famous cigar and maker. I have never seen this image before in all of the years I've been dealing in advertising. This grandiose lithographed image has it all, with copious scenes and participants. Let's start with what is being advertised; as printed at the top "Hoffman House Banquet Cigar". Chicago tobacconist, Edward Hoffman, started his cigar business with a small family run operation in 1857. By 1868 he had blended the finest tobaccos available and soon was known to be the maker of the finest cigars in the nation. His signature risque image of "Nymphs and Satyr" embodied his packaging and advertising, as evidenced by the over the top bar scene here in this lithograph with the nymph scene appearing on the wall to the right. The actual bar room lounge depicted here in this Hoffman lithograph is the late 19th century New York famed "Hoffman House Bar", with all of it's excesses and barroom accoutrements, gracing the walls and furnishings. Most noticeable is the size and height of the room with three elaborate...

Iconic lithograph, circa 1901, depicts a wagon train under siege. Advertising is by the leading wagon and coach producer, Mitchell & Lewis Company of Racine, Wisconsin. The image is from a painting by Gean Smith (1851-1928) who was a painter and illustrator, famous for his accurate depiction of horses. Some of his paintings have brought as much as $30,000. A copy of this lithograph is in the Library of Congress. Born in 1810, Henry Mitchell...

The artist who created this illustration was Lon Megargee, who designed western images for periodicals, pulp magazines, and other printed journals, romanc...

"Rant-Che-Wai-Me " translates to " Female Flying Pigeon " which is indicated on this hand-painted color lithograph, made by McKenny and Hall and dated 1837. It was published by E.C. Biddle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is one of the many Indians (approximately 120) that are portrayed in the major work, "History of The Indian Tribes of North America, Volumes 1-3" by Thomas McKenny and James Hall (from the Library of Congress). Along with Catlin's "North American Indian Portfolio" these are the two most important works of 19th century North American Indian study. McKenny's work was based on his travel of the west in the late 1820's. Thomas Hall was the "academia" member of the team. Charles Bird King painted the Indian portraits which hung in the Indian Gallery of the War Department. One by one the chiefs and other Indians were brought in to sit for portraits. Other portraits were loosely based on another painter who had traveled with McKenny, J.O. Lewis. The book with the folios and hand-painted lithographs was done in 1836. The significance of this is, that following the transfer of the paintings to the Smithsonian all of the paintings were destroyed in a fire in 1865. So all we have to chronicle those images are these McKenny-Hall lithographs. Any complete versions of McKenny's folio work are very rare and exist in a few private collections, museums, the Smithsonian etc. There are very few complete versions and most of the lithographs have been removed for framing to display as was this one. This is an authentic and original first edition dated 1837 from the "History of The Indian Tribes of North America" by McKenny and Hall. One way to validate authenticity is that on most of the folios the print comes through slightly on the front from leaving it's mark on the back of the page. Along with the folio, each Indian or scene was described in detail. This is a wonderful, authentic and original, article of Americana Provenance: This particular lithograph has impressive provenance having come from the Sondley Library in Asheville, North Carolina. It had been bequeathed to that library by Forster Alexander Sondley (1857-1931). F.A. Sondley was a successful attorney who studied American history and geography and collected Civil War and American Indian artifacts. The seal of the Sondley library is impressed as a round circle on the lithograph. A simple but elegant one inch gold leaf frame surrounds the lithograph which is: 19" wide x 23 3/4" high in frame; 17" wide x 21 3/4" high under glass; and matted to 10 1/4" wide x 14 1/2" high. Note: Please see the other McKenny & Hall hand painted lithograph...

"PADDY-CARR. CREEK INTERPRETER" is the title given to this young Indian by McKenny and Hall in this hand painted lithograph dated 1838 and pub...

This is an iconic Western image from the painting by pre-Civil War artist, William Tylee Ranney done in 1850. Ranney was born in Connecticut in 1813. In 1836 after the battle and subsequent fall of the Alamo , he enlisted to fight in the Texas Revolution. Even though he stayed for only a year the experience was enough to inspire his love for the West and express his influence in oil paintings from that period. He died of tuberculosis in New Jersey at the age of 44 in 1857. His works are in several museums: Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, Wyoming; Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington; and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This is a very rare and hard to find lithograph entitled "The Trapper's Last Shot" by Currier and Ive...