Birds eye view Centennial buildings. Fairmount Park Philadelphia. . . lithograph landscape view of the buildings and grounds of the Centennial Exhibition one of the earliest International World’s Fairs held in the United States.
1875ref. 60874Philadelphia PA: H.J. Toudy 621 & 623 Commerce Street 1875. One oblong atlas folio hand-coloured lithograph sized 25 x 20.5 in. still retaining fairly wide borders printing below centered image colour-tinted border to image some very minor age toning dustsoiling still an excellent copy preserved in the original quarter-sawn oak wood frame 33.5 x 25.5 in. retaining the original glass newly backed in archival foam core framed w/ archival matting. First edition of this impressive first edition birds-eye view of the buildings and sites Centennial International Exhibition with the fairgrounds set above the Schuykill River. This view depicts the Exposition before it was completed and the Halls featured include the Main Building Machinery Hall Memorial Hall Horticultural Hall and Agricultural Hall. Once the construction was complete Toudy issued another version with fuller buildings as well as some changes to the foreground and center of the image. Toudy fl. 1865-1878 first established with William Toudy his lithography firm at 503-505 Chestnut and later merged with Geroge Wl. Ward & Co. in 1872 lasting less than 2 years. Henry became the sole owner by 1875 and were well known for their atlases maps and city views and he worked on several Stone & Stewart County Atlases from 1866-1877 as well as many of the Mid-Atlantic general surveys. They also managed to outlast a lawsuit over a print based on the drawing by Hermann Schwarzmann architect of the Centennial grounds entitled “Bird’s Eye View” after copyrighting this image in 1875. Firm was destroyed by fire in 1878. Worldcat locates 2 copies AAS DLC another version located at Library Company of Philadelphia. H.J. Toudy, 621 & 623 Commerce Street, unknown
Zephyr Used & Rare Books · United States$650.00≈ €579.58
