Lot 234D email save

BIRCH, Thomas. The Upper Ferry Bridge Over the Ri

Sign In to see what this sold for

Philadelphia: c. 1815. Engraved by Jacob J. Plocher (425 x 545 mm). Printed on thick paper. Condition: lightly toned overall, minor browning in the image, repaired tears in the upper right corner. Provenance: Martin P. Snyder. "[Lewis] Wernwag was asked to design a bridge across the Schuylkill just below Fairmount to replace a floating one that had been carried away by a freshet in 1810. The Upper Ferry Bridge, as it was called, was a single wooden arch whose chord (length) was 340 feet, 98 feet greater than the longest up to then built in North America" (Philadelphia: A 300 Year History, p. 232). The bridge would stand until destroyed by fire in 1838. First issued in 1813 near the time of the bridge's opening, this is the second state of the print, with the Joseph Delapaine & Thomas Birch imprint removed from the plate, but still just visible above the title (see MOA 753). Birch's work would be copied in both England and Stockholm. Deak 314; Snyder, MOA 754.

View Bloomsbury Auctions next auction.

Similar lots up for auction