Lot 303D email save

RAE, Julio. Group of 14 plates, each appearing to

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Philadelphia: c. 1852. Lithographs (each approximately 130 x 310 mm, mounted onto sheets measuring 270 x 355 mm). Condition: later pencil inscriptions in the lower margins. In the Preface to the 1851 edition of his directory, Rae wrote that he intended to issue it annually, "giving all the alterations in the structures, and the changes in the business of Chestnut Street, thereby keeping the public notified of such changes as may take place, and at the same time showing the progess of improvements." No such later edition has been found to exist. However, these plates suggest that he was indeed intending to do so. Each plate here shows one side only of Chestnut, with Rae cutting plates from the 1851 edition in half lengthwise. Five plates contain printed overlays onto the buildings, updating the names of new businesses, or perhaps ones he missed in his first edition. Other plates contain pencil additions of building numbers.

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