Antique Steel Engraving of Salt Lake City, Mormon Settlement, ca. 1850
€ 220
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1850
Sheet size
15.7 × 23 cm (6.2 × 9.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14038-146
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
Very good condition overall, with mild age toning and occasional light spotting in the margins consistent with age. Strong impression with wide margins preserved.
About this sheet
Salt Lake City seen across farmland toward the Wasatch Mountains, an original steel engraving published around 1850 by the Bibliographisches Institut of Hildburghausen for Meyer's Die Fünf Welttheile dargestellt in Bild & Wort. The sheet is printed in black. The plate title reads "Salt-Lake-City, die Mormonen-Stadt" (the Mormon City), and the Hildburghausen imprint and the publisher's property line are engraved in the lower margin.
The view looks across a foreground of reeds, scrub and a small stream, with two figures standing on a low rise at the left. Beyond them a herd of cattle grazes in open fields, and the low line of the town stretches along the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Steep, bare mountains rise behind it, and a small sailing boat can be made out on the water at the right.
Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young settled the valley in 1847, so a German view of the city around 1850 shows it only a few years after its founding, an isolated community on the edge of the American frontier, pictured for readers in Europe.
