Lot 111D email save

GARRISON Jr., Nicholas. A View of the house of Em

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London: c. 1767. Engraving by James Hulett (350 x 710 mm). 10 lettered references. Framed. Condition: strong, dark impression. Provenance: Martin P. Snyder. rare and early view of philadelphia, including pennsylvania hospital: "the most important early engraved view of an american city to appear in the market for many years" (Stokes). Construction on the House of Employment, built to relieve the over crowding at the Quaker almshouse, began in 1766. Situated on a large lot (beween Tenth and Eleventh and Spruce and Pine streets), Stokes suggests that this print was issued to raise funds for its completion. This view is of particular note for its depiction of Pennsylvania Hospital, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1756, and with the more-settled portion of the city at the far right. "Nicholas Garrison was in 1767 elected overseer of the poor in Philadelphia. To that fact we owe the existence of an extremely valuable engraving of the city as it appeared just before the Revolution ... it is the only view of the city as a whole from the south showing it spreading westward only to the vicinity of the Statehouse. It has become one of the most valued American city views of the century" (Snyder). first state. Deak 122; Snyder, COI 35; Stokes & Haskell, p. 22.

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