North American Prints

Presented is an original Benjamin Franklin signature, presented framed with an etched portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Jacques Reich. The cut signature reads “Benja. Franklin” with a dramatic flourish, or paraph, on the “n” in Franklin. Franklin signed in black ink. This rare cut Franklin signature was one of several prominent American statesman autographs collected together and bound in a 1809 volume of the Baltimore Evening Post. Paired with the cut signature is a beautifully executed etching of Franklin by artist Jacques Reich. Printed in 1903, Reich based his portrait off the famous 1778 Joseph Siffred Duplessis oil painting of Franklin. Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont commissioned both the oil painting and a terracotta medallion with Franklin’s profile from Duplessis during Franklin’s time in France. The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1779 and quickly emerged as the most iconic image of this legendary statesman, later used on the American 100 dollar bill. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was a true renaissance man. He was an author, politician, scientist, inventor, and diplomat. Franklin was instrumental in the formation of the United States and served as the country's first ambassador to France. He is the only Founding Father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the United States: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), and the Constitution (1787). Benjamin Franklin was born in colonial Boston...

This dramatic Revolutionary War engraving of the Battle of Bunker Hill is after the famous 1785 oil-on-canvas by John Trumbull. Capturing the intensity of ...

Original edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette, "Containing the Frelbelt Advices, Foreign, and Dome?iclt." Printed by Ben Franklin, Postmaster and D. Hall at the New Printing Office , near the Market April 5. 1748, Numb. 1008 Fascinating surviving readable paper written in old world English. Complete with several classified ads about rewards for run away indentured (Irish & Dutch) servants. Slaves & real estate for sale...

Rare and fine framed engraving map of the Americas "Americae Sive Novi Orbin Nova Descriptio" by Abraham Ortelius (hand colored later) Ortelius' map of the Americas is the most re...

A charming 18th century Spanish Colonial colored etching on velum of the Holy Family, depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph holding hands, Joseph carrying flowers. Two putti hover above. ...

This is a hand-colored engraving by Jean N. Laugier, after the original oil painting by Leon Cogniet. The 1839 original, 1st edition engraving has been archivally treated and backed onto to linen. Titled Washington in the bottom margin with publication information. The engraving depicts George Washington, his horse “Old Nelson” and a groom or valet. The unidentified scene may be Yorktown, site of the final major battle of the Revolutionary War. Washington stands in full uniform atop a promontory. His groom steadies the general's white steed. A cannon points towards a redoubt (possibly Number Ten on Gloucester Point) which has been reduced to smoldering ruins. The clouds are overcast, but more so seaward, symbolizing the threat from England and her celebrated navy. In fact, the fate of Cornwallis was doomed when a combined British fleet failed to destroy the French fleet commanded by Admiral de Grasse and were forced to return to New York. Léon Cogniet (1794-1880) was a French painter of the Romantic school who specialized in portraits and historical subjects. In 1812, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin at the same time as Delacroix and Géricault. He was a resident at the Villa Medici, in Rome, from 1817 to 1822. Like many historical painters, his works were issued as engravings for sale to the general public — this being one of the very first original engravings. Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson and adopted son of the General, considered the engraving one of his favorite of his famous step-grandfather. The painter may have been inspired to choose this subject in light of the decisive role played by French forces. It is believed that Cogniet copied Washington’s head from the original “Virginia Regiment” portrait by Gilbert Stuart, which was painted from life in 1796 - and the source of the “flopped” image of Washington we find on the current one dollar bill. G.W. Parke Custis wrote that Washington's "matchless limbs" were rarely portrayed well, and singled out Jean Nicolas Laugier's 1839 engraving of the Cogniet painting (along with a portrait by Trumbull) as being two of the better examples. The 1839 engraving has been presented with a piece of historical DNA — a Revolutionary War Continental Army Officer’s Artillery Uniform Button. This pewter button dates to the birth of our nation — 1776, and depicts an artillery piece with the “Grand Union...

18th century engravings, architectural and ornamental Adams designs, group of 10 circa 1770's, contemporary black and gold matting with gilded frames. Frames have afew knicks, eas...

'The Pychely Hunt', eight hand colored aquatint engravings by Francis Jukes, published March 1790. Mounted in a leather bound presentation book c.1920 ex-libris Harry T. Peters and B...