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BIRCH, William. The City of Philadelphia, in the

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"Springland Cot, near Neshaminy Bridge on the Bristol Road, Pennsylvania": 31 December 1800 [but 1798-1800]. Oblong folio (387 x 460 mm). Engraved title-page with the arms of Pennsylvania, hand-colored engraved Frontispiece, letterpress introduction and plate list, engraved Plan of the City of Philadelphia by W. Barker, 28 hand-colored engraved plates (including two extra-illustrations), letterpress Subscriber's list and Prospectus leaf. Contemporary full calf, ruled in gilt, green morocco gilt title label on the upper cover. Housed in a morocco-backed clamshell box. Condition: repaired tears to the title and table of contents, repaired tears or other restoration to most plates, 5 plates paper-backed, several plates with light mat burn; rebacked to style, recased maintaining the original marbled endpapers but with new blanks, restoration at the corners. Provenance: William Hayward; Joseph Chamberlain (1883 gift inscription on the front free endpaper from Hayward to Chamberlain); Martin Snyder (obtained from A. S. W. Rosenbach). Plate list, in order of appearance: [Plate 1] The City of Philadelphia [engraved title-page] [Plate 2] Frontispiece. The City & Port of Philadelphia, on the River Delaware from Kensington. [Plate 3] Plan of the City. [Plate 4] Arch-street Ferry, a commercial scene, with shipping, &c. [Plate 5] Arch-street, with the Second Presbyterian Church. [Plate 6] New Lutheran Church, in Fourth-street. [Plate 7] Old Lutheran Church, in Fifth-street. [Plate 8] South east corner of Market and Third street. [Plate 9] New Presbyterian Church, in Market-street. [Plate 10] Perspective View of the inside of the Market-place. [Plate 11a] High Street, From the Country Market-place Philadelphia. State 1. [Plate 11b] High Street, From the Country Market-place. State 2, depicting Washington's funeral procession. [Plate 12] High-street from Ninth-street. [Plate 13] The House intended for the President of the U.S. in Ninth-street. [Plate 14] An unfinished house, in Chesnut-street. [Plate 15] Second-street north from Market-street, with Christ Church. [Plate 16] New-Market, in South Second-street. [Plate 17a] Bank of the United States, in Third Street. [Plate 17b] Bank of the United States, with a View of Third Street. [Plate 18] View in Third-street from Spruce-street. [Plate 19] Library and Surgeons' Hall, Fifth-street. [Plate 20] Congress Hall and New Theatre, in Chesnut-street. [Plate 21] State-House, in Chesnut street. [Plate 22] Back of the State-House. [Plate 23] State-House Garden. [Plate 24] Gaol, in Walnut Street. [Plate 25] Alms-House, in Spruce-street. [Plate 26] Pennsylvania Hospital, in Pine Street. [Plate 27] Pennsylvania Bank, in Second-street. [Plate 28] Water-works in Centre Square. [Plate 29] Preparation for War to Defend Commerce. Swedish Church, Southwark, with the building of a frigate. the first american color plate book, a noted rarity and the best depiction of philadelphia as the capital of the infant united states. William Birch, a celebrated painter of miniatures on enamel, emigrated from England in 1794, arriving in Philadelphia at a time of enormous growth. The city was the capital of the United States and the center of the nation's trade and commerce. Indeed, in the last decade of the 18th century, the city's population increased fifty per cent. Houses, churches, and other buildings were being erected all over the city, including an executive mansion for President George Washington. Important facilities and institutions, such as The Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia Library, and Alexander Hamilton's Bank of the U.S. were opening. "Birch's eye was trained for the visual aspect of life around him, and its impact upon him was such that he decided to record it" (Snyder, William Birch: His Philadelphia Views). The Introduction to this first edition explains the artist's intent: "The ground on which [the city of Philadelphia] stands, was, less than a century ago, in a state of wild nature, covered with wood, and inhabited by Indians. It has, in this short time, been raised, as it were, by magic power, to the eminence of an opulent city, famous for its trade and commerce, crowded in its port, with vessels of its own producing, and visited by others from all parts of the world.This work will stand as a memorial of its progress for the first century." In 1798, Birch and his son Thomas began surveying potential sites and accomplishing watercolor studies on which to base the copper plate line engravings. These watercolors, some still extant, and the eventual engravings depict more than the physical city. "[Birch] wanted to portray not architectural subjects alone, but the whole 'feel' of life in the city, its texture and personality.The pictures at their best retain to this day a vivid quality of civic accomplishment" (Snyder, William Birch: His Philadelphia Views). In this fashion, these views transcend the city of Philadelphia and impart a real sense of early American urban life and spirit. Set among the city's most noted sites, these views include images of everyday Americans, tradespeople, well-dressed artistocrats, and even Native Americans in traditional garb. After the frontispiece general view of the city, the plates are presented in geographic order, beginning with northern areas of the city, followed by several depictions on Market Street and concluding with the southern portion of the city. This copy is extra-illustrated. In 1798, Birch issued four plates, including depictions of High Street and the Bank of the U.S. The former plate was considerably reworked in 1799 to include George Washington's funeral procession; the latter was abandoned and entirely re-engraved from a different perspective. This copy contains both states of the High Street plate, as well as both editions of the view of the Bank. All other plates are present here in their first states. Birch's subscription book lists 156 subscribers to the first edition, including Thomas Jefferson, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Mifflin and others. Jefferson felt such fondness for the work that during his Presidency he kept his copy for public view in his visiting room. Of the 156 subscription copies, fewer than 20 have survived. This is only the fourth copy to appear at auction in the last half century and OCLC records fewer than a dozen institutional holdings. This copy is the deluxe version of the book, with hand-colored plates and bound in calf, and would have cost subscribers $35, making it extremely expensive. In his essay on the work, Snyder writes of Birch's efforts, "The result was a truly handsome volume, probably the handsomest produced in America to that time." It is also the best 18th century pictorial description of America and the birth of American color plate books. Bennett 13; Deak 228; Evans 38259; Howes B459 "dd"; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 1; Sabin 5530; Snyder, COI 224-248; Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views" in PMHB, vol. 73, no. 3; Stokes, American Historical Prints, p. 44.

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