The Philadelphia Print Shop West

02/23/2022

Just published a blog about the Four Great Surveys of the American West.

After the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. Government was interested in trying to get a basic understanding of what was in the vast new lands t...

02/07/2022

Another in our series of posts about remarkable women naturalists.

As the step-granddaughter of Johann Theodor de Bry and the daughter of the well-known engraver Matthaus Merian the elder, and then step-d...

02/01/2022

I plan to post a series of blogs on the amazing women naturalists whose prints we are priveledged to carry in our shop.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-1758) of Scotland is not a well-known as the American pioneer doctor of the same name, but she is one of the most...

10/31/2021

This 1864 map shows the relatively new territories of Nevada (1861), Colorado (1861) and Arizona (1863) formed mostly out of the large territories of Utah and New Mexico established in 1850. It was issued the year that Nevada was created a state (on October 31st), which is interesting, as the territory which had preceded it by over a decade, Utah, did not become a state until 1896. This reflected the fact that Mormons were not terribly popular in the U.S. Congress, whereas the recently discovered wealth of the Nevada silver mines was!

10/24/2021

On October 24, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel. This inspired others in future years, adding to the commercial exploitation of this natural wonder, which in turn inspired this delightful cartoon from Puck magazine.

10/18/2021

October 18, 1867, the United States took possession of Alaska, what had been Russian America. In a purchase commonly called "Seward's Folly," the U.S. purchased 586,412 square miles for $7.2 million. The purchase proved anything but a folly.

10/14/2021

"The renowned Battle of Hastings" took place on October 14, 1066, one of the most famous events in British history. The last of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, King Harold II, lost this battle (supposedly dying by an arrow in the eye) to Norman Duke William.

10/10/2021

Similarly to the note in the previous post, contemporary portraits of participants in the American Revolution are both rare and wonderful. This 18th century portrait is of General William Howe, who was appointed commander of the British Army in America on October 10, 1775.

10/04/2021

Contemporary maps of the American Revolution are rare but quite wonderful. The major producer of such maps was British publisher William Faden, who issued this map of the Battle of Germantown which took place on October 4, 1777.

09/30/2021

Charles Fenderich was a Swiss lithographer who in 1837 moved to Washington, where he realized the opportunities afforded in the nation’s capital and so began to issue a series of fine lithographic portraits of American statesmen. In all Fenderich made about 84 portraits in Washington between 1837 and 1848. This portrait is of Joseph Marion Hernández, who on September 30, 1822 became the first Hispanic elected to Congress.

09/26/2021

September 26, 1820, Daniel Boone died, having lived 86 adventurous years. The quintessential American frontiersman, Boone was celebrated throughout the nineteenth century, with many prints being produced on his life. This is typical garish chromolithograph of an apocryphal Boone episode.

09/20/2021

September 20, 1973 saw the "Battle of the Sexes," a publicity game of tennis between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, demonstrating the quality of women's tennis. Of course, the game was played by women as well as men from the beginning, as shown in this 1880 print.