Newcastle, High Level Bridge, Hand Coloured Engraving, after Harvey, circa 1849

About this sheet

This hand coloured steel engraving of Newcastle upon Tyne from the south west, showing the High Level Bridge, is an original antique print published in London by Charles Knight circa 1849. It was drawn by William Harvey from a sketch by J. Jackson and engraved by Thomas Abiel Prior, and the plate is lettered "Newcastle, from the South West".

The view looks across the Tyne to the crowded town, with church towers and the castle keep on the skyline and the great iron High Level Bridge striding across the river gorge. The bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, was opened in 1849, and its presence here is the best guide to the date of the plate: the date in the imprint is faint and has been read as 1839, but the bridge makes a date of about 1849 far more likely. River craft and the busy quays show Newcastle as a working port at the heart of the northern coal trade.

Charles Knight was a pioneer of cheap, well illustrated publishing for a wide Victorian readership, and he issued a number of topographical works with steel plates of British towns. William Harvey, a pupil of Thomas Bewick and himself a native of Newcastle, was one of the most admired illustrators of the period, and Thomas Abiel Prior was a highly skilled landscape engraver on steel. The Newcastle engraving is believed to belong to one of Knight's illustrated series of British views.

The plate has been finished in later hand colour, which brings warmth to the sky and river. It is an attractive record of Newcastle in the railway age and would suit a study, office or hallway, or a collection of Tyneside and Northumberland views.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few faint marginal spots and a soft crease at one corner; the image is clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.