Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1854
Sheet size
14.4 × 23.7 cm (5.7 × 9.3 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14038-111
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 condition for its age with light age toning and minor foxing mainly in the margins. Plate mark clearly visible. Paper remains strong and stable.
About this sheet
The river town of Alton, Illinois, seen from the Mississippi, an original steel engraving from Meyers Universum, published by the Bibliographisches Institut in Germany around 1853 to 1854. The plate is printed in black on cream paper and is lettered below the image "Alton am Mississippi (in Illinois)." It appeared as volume 18, plate 24 of the series.
The view looks across a broad, calm stretch of the river toward the town, which rises on the bluffs along the far bank. Church spires and warehouses crowd the waterfront, where steamboats lie at the landing, and a large sailing craft with a lowered mast and a handful of crew sits at the left foreground, with a second sailing boat out on the water and a small rowboat nearer the center. Trees frame the right edge, and low clouds fill the sky.
Alton, just north of St. Louis, was a river port for lead, stone, timber and farm produce in the mid-19th century. It later hosted the last of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, on October 15, 1858.
