Grand Spirit Tables, Lake Pepin – Mississippi River Steamboat View, c.1850

€ 240

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1850
Sheet size: 15.3 × 23.4 cm (6.0 × 9.2 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14038-134

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 with age-related toning, occasional light foxing, and minor handling wear consistent with age. Wide original margins preserved. Please review the photographs carefully for a complete assessment of condition.

About this sheet

The bluffs called the Grand Spirit Tables on Lake Pepin, an original steel engraving published around 1850 by the Bibliographisches Institut of Hildburghausen, as named in the imprint in the lower margin. The sheet is printed in black. The plate title reads "Grand-Spirit-Tables (Lake Pepin)".

The view looks across the broad, still water of the Mississippi at the flat-topped bluffs that rise above a wooded shore. A paddle steamer trailing dark smoke moves along the far side of the river at the right, and a log raft drifts in the middle of the water at the left. Heavy clouds roll above the bluffs and everything is reflected in the quiet surface.

Lake Pepin is a wide expansion of the Upper Mississippi between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The steamboat and the raft are the two kinds of traffic that moved on the river in this period: passenger and freight steamers, and rafts of timber floated down from the northern forests.