Item #JLR0868 The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq. Samuel Knapp.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.

The picturesque beauties of the Hudson River and its vicinity; illustrated in a series of views, from original drawings, taken expressly for this work, and engraved on steel, By Distinguished Artists. With historical and descriptive illustrations, by Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.

CHINE-COLLÉ PROOFS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST 

 

New York: University Press for J. Disturnell, 1835. First edition of part I, proofs after the letter.

Folio in 4s (13 ¾” x 10 13/16”, 349mm x 275mm): 14 24 [$1 signed]. 8 leaves, pp. 1-3 (title, copyright, text) 4-16. With a steel-engraved title-page (with a vignette by and after James Smillie) and three steel-engraved plates by: R. Hinselwood after E.W. Clay, James Smillie after John G. Chapman, and by and after A. Dick, all printed by A. King.

Bound in the publisher’s printed wraps, backed in dun cloth.

Soiled, with some chips and losses to the peripheries. Small losses to the head and tail. Faintest dampstain to the front wrapper, transferring to the front free end-paper. Mild tanning throughout. Some passages of foxing, particularly to the plates and adjacent leaves. Ink-stamp of the “J. D. Smillie, Collection” to the front wrapper and to the title-page. Graphite ownership signature of “James D. Smillie/ see opposite p. 13” to the front wrapper. Faint graphite ownership inscription of “William Js. Collins” to the upper edge of the front wrapper.


Samuel Lorenzo Knapp (1783–1838) was a lawyer who clerked for the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In the final third of his life, he published on a wide variety of subjects, but with a particular emphasis on biography. Consequently his reading public may have expected beautiful women when The picturesque beauties of the Hudson was offered as a specimen to the public in June 1835; instead, the leading illustrators of the day depicted the great river of New York from its mouth northward. The three plates of the present part are “The Narrows” as seen from Staten Island, “Bay and Harbour of New York” as seen from Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) and “Hell Gate” as seen from Great Barn Island (now Ward Island); this last technically is the East River.

This first part — only two of the proposed three would be published — was offered both to subscribers and to non-subscribers; to the latter the numbers were $1, $1.50 for proofs after the letter (as here; the NYPL notes that the Arents Collection copy (Arents BIP+ (Knapp, S. Picturesque 1835) 04-23) is also proofs after the letter on chine-collé) and $2.00 for proofs before the letter. Naturally, the proof issue would have been distributed, doubtless part of the pay for the work, to the artists; the present example to James S. Smillie (1807–1885). Smillie, born in Edinburgh, became one of the most celebrated steel engravers in America. He drew and engraved the vignette of the Palisades used on the engraved title, as well as engraved Chapman’s depiction of the New York Harbor. The volume doubtless was passed to his son James David Smillie (1833–1909). The (intentionally?) effaced signature of William James Collins is difficult to identify.

Checklist of American Imprints 32503; Sabin 33520.

Item #JLR0868

Price: $4,500

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