Landscape Gallery of Engravings
New York: Herrmann J Meyer, 1853.
Illustrated by Illustrated. Hardcover. Good+ with no dust jacket. Item #15297
Paper quality varied so some prints have no foxing while others are well foxed, paper wrinkling, spine edge tears, light edgewear, one print bound slightly askew so edgeworn, front free endpaper creased, otherwise light wear. Solid oblong oversize hardcover. ; Album containing ninety-one steel engravings of landscape and city views, primarily of Europe and the United States. Engravings are either "Printed for Herrmann J Meyer" or from the family firm in Germany, Bibliographischen Institut zu Hildburghausen, with captions either in German or English. Herrmann and his father Joseph were publishers of an illustrated travel series sold by subscription. Joseph sent Herrmann to establish a firm in New York. The Herrmann J Meyer firm existed briefly from 1849-1854 in New York, but wasn't a success as delays in shipping the German-printed engravings angered his subscribers. All engravings were printed by the family in Germany, and his father was skeptical of Herrman's business acumen. Herrmann sold out and returned to Germany to rejoin his ailing father in 1854. Robert E Cazden; A Social History of the German Book Trade in America to the Civil War, pages 430-437. The only reference to this album in WorldCat is a copy with only 43 plates. While undated, one can assume 1853, as Herrmann Meyer's 1853 publishing of The United States Illustrated, edited by Charles A Dana, is the source of the United States engravings. The United States prints are: Wall-Street (New York), The President's House (Washington), On Lake George, The Monument on Bunkers Hill near Boston, General Post-Office (Washington), Saratoga Lake, Desert Rock Light-House (coast of Maine), Washington's House (Mount Vernon), Tomb of Washington, View of the Hudson River (near Newburg), Genessee Falls (Rochester), Maiden-Rock (Valley of the Mississippi), Passaie Falls, New York-Bay (from Staten-Island, near the lighthouse), and Harper's Ferry. Quite uncommon. ; Steel engraving; Unpaginated pages.
Price: $499.95