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Table of Contents > Colonial America > Lot 58 |
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Browse the Auction in Groups of 25 Lots: |
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Lot Number: 58
Click for a Printable PageSign-in to Bid or Register to Bid Estimate Range: $25,000 - $35,000 |
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November 19, 1774 “The Bostonians in Distress.” Engraved “Intolerable Acts” Period Political Mezzotint Engraved Print, London, printed for R. Sayer & J.Bennett, Printsellers |
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       Click an Image to Enlarge It |
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November 19, 1774-Dated, First State, “The Bostonians in Distress.” Historic “Intolerable Acts” period, Political Mezzotint Engraved Copper-Plate Print, "London, printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, Map & Printsellers, No 53 Fleet Street as the Act directs, 19 November 1774" after Phillip Dawe, engraver Johann Martin Will (1727-1806)(Augsburg), Framed, Choice Very Fine. One of the Finest Known examples of this truly remarkable historic Pre-Revolutionary War Political Mezzotint Engraved Print, famously Anti-British Military Occupation of Boston. The engraved copper-plate outline clearly measures 12.75” x 9.25” (365 x 236 mm), on a sheet measuring to 14 5/8” x 9.75” (382 x 274 mm) (by sight), and professionally fully Framed to 17.25” x 13” the image shown through special protective Museum UV Plexiglas. Excellent in its overall eye appeal and condition with a small tan dampstain at the top right margin selvage , and a few faint creases as shown. This highly-charged important Political print being a negative American commentary on the closure of the Port of Boston by the numerous British “Intolerable Acts” imposed on Boston after the citizen’s cries for better treatment from the King and calls for Liberty, in the wake of the 1773 “Boston Tea Party”.The image depicts, “BOSTON” and Bostonians suspended upon their own identified "LIBERTY TREE" being trapped like starving prisoners within a large iron-bar cage. This scene happening while surrounded by many British military cannon and grenadier guards, all being a Political satire metaphor for the enactment of the “Boston Port Act,” which closed Boston Harbor to trade following the “Boston Tea Party,” being the Sons of Liberty protest against the Tax on Tea. In this scene, the Caged American Colonist Prisoners can be seen starving and greedily consuming raw fish provided by merchants or fishermen, as representing the neighboring towns and American colonies who united to send provisions to aide the Boston town's inhabitants. Under a pile of fish in the boat there is a small tag reading, “To -- / from the Commitee of ----.” In an allusion to the futility of British imperial policy, the metal cage is shown suspended on a low dead branch on the “LIBERTY TREE”. Engraver Phillip Dawe is credited with fashioning the original mezzotint, which proved so popular that the Copper-Plate was reworked several times. This historic engraving is known to exist in five states. Johann Martin Will of Augsburg produced the present copy, a reverse of Dawe's work, but while omitting his name (this is the First State, as he would add it in the second state), he did add the credit: "London: Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, Map & Printsellers. No. 55 Fleet Street, as the act directs 19 Novr. 1774." This Museum quality example Sold for $36,000 at Christie’s New York years ago. See: Torbert, Dissolving the Bonds, pp. 190-206, 215, 311-323, 1021-1022. Copies of this edition can be located at; The Library of Congress and The John Carter Brown Library. References: Shadwell, 43 (misattributed to Dawe), Cresswell 673 (an earlier state from Dawe’s plate). Provenance Ex: Christies New York, Sale 19907, Collection of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II. |
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Lot Number: 58
Click for a Printable Page Sign-in to Bid or Register to Bid |
Estimate Range: $25,000 - $35,000 |
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Early American History Auctions, Inc. 1520 Commerce St., # 312 • Winchester, VA 22601 Phone: 858 • 759 • 3290 Email: Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com |
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