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Historic April 1775 "Mr. SAMUEL ADAMS" Printed by and for Charles Reak & Samuel Okey. Newport, Rhode Island.

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April 1775-Dated Revolutionary War Period, Mezzotint Portrait Print titled, "Mr. SAMUEL ADAMS", by “Saml Okey, Fecit”, “J. Mitchell, Pin.t”, “Printed by and for Charles Reak & Saml. Okey, Newport, Rhode Island. April 1775.”, Extremely Fine.

Exceedingly rare and among the Finest Known extant, of only two other examples of this fine historic American Mezzotint Print of "Mr. Samuel Adams" have appeared at auction in recent decades, one in somewhat lesser quality (trimmed to platemark) sold at Bloomsbury, March 5, 2009 Lot 4, sold for $16,000. The second more recent example, was offered in our own Early American History Auction of January 14, 2023 Lot 165 graded EF, which sold for $15,000. This current example, as was our prior offering, is from the remarkable Americana collection of Ambassador William Middendorf II. Therefore, this impressive print also enjoys that highly prestigious provenance.

Offered in the Boston Gazette newspaper of April 3rd, 1775 (issued just Two Weeks before the firing of the “Shot heard round the world” starting the American Revolution at Lexington Green), was the following advertisement:

“A fine Mezzotinto Print of that truly worthy Patriot S.A. (Samuel Adams) the size of the Print 14 inches by 10 and half, Executed and Published by and for Charles Reek and Samuel Okey, in Newport, Rhode Island, to whom Letters sent will be duly answered; and to be sold by Edes and Gill, and James Foster Condy, in Boston.”

In this Portrait [Samuel] Adams is displayed standing in front of a table filled with documents and papers, with a rolled paper in his left hand, on that paper are engraved the words: "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" - probably referring to his famous “Circular Letter”. Below the title are eight lines of verse in two columns, celebrating Sam Adams's opposition to the hated British Intolerable Acts.

The engraving measures about 9.75" x 13.5" (by sight), having its full deep black printed plate text fully complete and readable upon the sheet within the frame at bottom. Professionally "period style" framed, protected under special UV Plexiglas measuring to fully about 12.25" x 16.25". A truly remarkable example of this exceedingly rare and important American mezzotint of Samuel Adams, the great Massachusetts “Son of Liberty” founder and Revolutionary Period Patriot leader of Boston.

The original oil painting by J. Mitchell, after which this mezzotint was engraved, was itself based upon John Singleton Copley's famous Portrait of Samuel Adams, now housed in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Samuel Adams is shown standing at a table, against a background of Roman columns (suggestive of "classical republican virtue"), gesturing towards a group of documents arranged on a table before him. One is document is captioned: "Charter Wm & Mary to Massachusetts Bay" while in his right hand he holds another rolled document reading: "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" -- likely referring to his infamous 1768 "Circular Letter". Below, are engraved eight lines of verse displayed in two columns, celebrating American resistance and denouncing Prime Minister Lord North for the Intolerable Acts and the Quartering Act of the British Army in Boston. The verse text reads, in full:

"When haughty North impress'd with proud Disdain, Spurn'd at the Virtue, which rejects his Chain; Heard with a Tyrant Scorn our Rights implor'd, And when we su'd for Justice sent the Sword: / Lo! ADAMS rose, in Warfare nobly try'd, His Country's Saviour, Father, Shield & Guide, Urg'd by her Wrongs he wag'd ye glorious Strife Nor paus'd to waste a Coward-Thought on Life."

Samuel Okey spent only a brief portion of his artistic career in America, spending 1773-1775 in Newport, Rhode Island, but by 1778 he returned to Britain. This handsome example has excellent print quality and contrast on clean laid period paper, with all details sharp and clear. Of museum quality, it is certainly among the finest known. See: Grolier Club, Early American Engraving upon Copper, 1727-1850 (1908), 181; Shadwell 46; Stauffer 2370.

Provenance: Ambassador William J. Middendorf II Collection. With prior label on the reverse. Ex: The OLD PRINT SHOP, pencil notation indicates an original acquisition purchase date of March 1964 to our current consignor.

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF

AMBASSADOR J. WILLIAM MIDDENDORF II






Samuel Adams in Mezzotint:

In May, Boston 1775 reader Judy Cataldo sent me this tidbit from the Boston Gazette, dated 3 Apr 1775 - Just Two Weeks before the firing of the “Shot heard round the world” starting the American Revolution at Lexington Green:

In a few days to be Published, (Price Half a Dollar):

“A fine Mezzotinto Print of that truly worthy Patriot S.A. the size of the Print 14 inches by 10 and half, Executed and Published by and for Charles Reek and Samuel Okey, in Newport, Rhode Island, to whom Letters sent will be duly answered; and to be sold by Edes and Gill, and James Foster Condy, in Boston.”

In this portrait [Samuel] Adams is standing in front of a table with a paper in his hand, engraved with the words "Instructions from ye Town of Boston" - probably referring to his famous “Circular Letter.” [It may have showed the town meeting's instructions to its representatives to the Massachusetts General Court, as Sam Adams often had a hand in writing those instructions as well as in carrying them out.]

Below the title are eight lines of verse in two columns celebrating Adams's opposition to the Intolerable Acts [sic]:

When haughty North impress'd wth proud Disdain,

Spurn'd at the Virtue, which rejects his Chain;

Heard with a Tyrant Soon our Rights implor'd,

And when we su'd for Justice sent the Sword:

Lo! Adams rose, in Warfare nobly try'd,

His Country's Saviour, Father, Shield & Guide,

Urg'd by her Wrongs he wag'd ye glorious Strife

Nor paus'd to waste a Coward-Thought on Life.

The original painting by J. Mitchell, after which the mezzotint was designed, was based on J. S. Copley's portrait of John Adams now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts [and originally painted for John Hancock].

Samuel Okey had only a very short working life in the Americas: he engraved and published in Newport from 1773-1775, and had returned to London by 1778. Quite likely Okey was simply giving the New England market what he and Reak thought it wanted rather than expressing his own politics.

On the other hand, the men who sold this print in British army-occupied Boston were big Samuel Adams buddies and fans. Benjamin Edes and John Gill were the printers of the Boston Gazette, newspaper and were two of the busiest Patriot radicals in the town. James Foster Condy was a bookseller and Boston Tea Party veteran. He was, friends of the Royal government was noted, "Cashiered [as a] Cadet for Abusing one of the Honourable Commissioners of his Majesties Customs" while in uniform. Being forced out of that prestigious militia company only made him popular, and Boston's town meeting appointed Condy to the large committee promoting the Continental Congress's boycott of British imports.

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Lot Number: 145
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Estimate Range: $15,000 - $20,000
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