Brooklyn, N.Y. 1854. Respectfully Dedicated to the Citizens of Brooklyn by the Publishers, H. Fern & Co. 248 Fulton Street, N.Y.
Copperplate engraving by Wellstood & Peters after B.F. Smith, with hand-color (29" X 43 5/8").
Small restored loss to the lower margin. Mildly evenly tanned.
The view, taken from the west at the approximate area of the Wall Street Pier, captures the bustling East River filled with ships and stretches out into Brooklyn’s developing cityscape. Among the Smith views, this one is notoriously rare due to the poor construction of the paper onto which it was printed. The year inscribed, 1854, marks the subsumption of younger cities of Williamsburgh and Bushwick, unable to handle the rapid expansion of the manufacturing and shipbuilding industry along the river, into the jurisdiction of Brooklyn.
Between 1848 and 1856, Benjamin F. Smith and his three brothers (Francis Smith, George Warren Smith, and David Clifford) created large folio views of major cities within America’s eastern coast (Brooklyn would remain an independent city for most of the XIXc; die-hard Brooklynites called the merger with New York "the great mistake of 1898"). The youngest of the brothers, Benjamin F. Smith, was considered the “artist of the family” and illustrated multiple views for the series (Reps, 206). The Smith brothers spent numerous years traveling and publishing with the artist Edwin Whitefield before establishing their own independent publishing firm in 1849, specializing in city views. This separation from Whitefield was likely driven by the clear artistic talent of Benjamin Franklin Smith, who quickly proved himself able to compete with the more experienced Whitefield.
Reps, "Views and Viewmakers of Urban America" pp. 206-208.
Item #AJS00087
Price: $9,000