Bird’s-Eye View of Charleston, South Carolina – Panoramic City Engraving, 19th C
€ 220
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Sheet size
15.4 × 25 cm (6.1 × 9.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14129-9
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good antique condition. Light overall age toning with scattered foxing and minor surface marks, mainly in the margins. The engraved image remains clear and well-defined with good contrast.
About this sheet
Charleston in a bird's-eye view, an original steel engraving with the plate title "Bird's-Eye View of Charleston" lettered below the image. The sheet carries small engraved credits at the lower left and right.
The view is taken from a high imagined point above the harbor. At the left the built-up peninsula of the city lies packed between its two rivers, and ships and wharves line the water's edge. A broad expanse of river or harbor opens at the center and runs back to the horizon, with a few steamers and small craft on it. At the right and in the foreground, flat farmland and scattered woods stretch away in neat fields, crossed by a railway line running diagonally through the lower left. Low islands and marsh close the view at the far shore.
Bird's-eye views of this kind were made without any aerial vantage, built from maps and surveys and drawn as though from a balloon. This one conveys Charleston's position on a spit of land between water and low country, which was the basis of its life as a port.
