Title: Trenton High Falls.
Artist: Published by Currier & Ives 152 Nassau St. (1835-1907)
Hand colored lithograph, 1870.
Reference: #6142 in "Currier & Ives Prints. An Illustrated Checklist" by Frederick Conningham. Gale #6626.

Small folio - Image size 7 15/16 x 12 1/8" (20.2 x 30.9 cm).

The firm of Currier & Ives was America's longest running printing establishment, publishing over seven-thousand images covering a span of seventy-three years. The early history of Currier & Ives follows its founder, Nathaniel Currier, and the first lithographic house of America, William and John Pendleton of Boston. The Pendleton brothers established their business in 1824, importing from Europe the stones, presses, artists, and craftsmen to publish prints and do commercial or job printing. At the age of fifteen, Nathaniel Currier became Pendleton's first apprentice, and the firm taught him the lithographic printing business. When John Pendleton moved to Philadelphia to set up a lithographic shop, the young Currier went with him. In 1833 John Pendleton moved to New York to open another lithographic shop; however, business was better elsewhere, so he sold the New York operation to Currier and a gentleman named Stodart in 1834. Stodart left the business shortly after its inception. It appeared that Currier and Stodart did not get along and the arrangement was not agreeable financially or otherwise according to Harry T. Peters. During the early years, Nathaniel Currier ran more of a job press than a print publishing house. His first financial success came in 1840 and was, in conjunction with the New York Sun, the largest of New York City's newspapers at the time. The broadside of the sinking of the "Lexington" published under the banner The Extra Sun had a lithographic image of the disaster by N. Currier. According to records, Currier's presses ran day and night for months to fill the demand. James Merritt Ives joined Currier as a bookkeeper in 1852. He was the brother-in-law of Charles Currier who recommended him to his brother, Nathaniel. Ives knowledge of art, his ability to understand what the public wanted and to communicate it to the many artists who worked at the firm, made him an indispensable member of the firm. In 1857 he was made a full partner and the name was changed from N. Currier to Currier & Ives.

Condition: Poor condition, fair color, repaired puncture right of center, overall gray toning.