A Street in Smyrna, Antique Ottoman Town View by Allom, circa 1850

€ 190

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

Date: circa 1850
Mapmaker / artist: Thomas Allom (after); engraved by T. Higham
Publisher: Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son and Co., London and Paris
Technique: Steel Engraving
Coloring: Uncolored
Sheet size: 27 × 21 cm (10.6 × 8.3 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14186-1-4

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

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right corner.

About this sheet

This original antique steel engraving shows A Street in Smyrna, a plate from the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850. A narrow street in Smyrna climbing between overhanging timber houses, awnings stretched across the way, laden camels and figures in local dress filling the roadway and a minaret rising beyond the rooftops.

This sheet was published in London about 1850 by Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son and Company, in the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated. Thomas Allom traveled through Constantinople and Asia Minor making the original drawings, and the Reverend Robert Walsh, who had served as chaplain at the British embassy to the Porte, wrote the letterpress. The plates are steel engravings, a technique that holds a far finer line than copper and allowed the long print runs these illustrated travel books required. Each plate in the series carries the draftsman at the lower left and the engraver at the lower right, both printed inside the plate mark, with the English title in script below and a French translation beneath it on many sheets, which is how the publisher sold the work on both sides of the Channel. The fine tonal gradation is the work of the burin alone, with no aquatint or added wash.

Smyrna was the great Levantine trading port of the Ottoman Aegean and the gateway through which most European travelers entered Asia Minor, and this street view is the best record in the volume of how its domestic quarters actually looked. Framed in gilt or in plain polished wood it suits a study, a library or a dining room, and it sits easily beside maps, marine prints and other nineteenth century travel material.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right corner.

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.