Scope and Content Note
The collection contains book illustrations and portrait prints from the late 18th and early 19th centuries created mainly by American engravers of English and western European descent but also by a few European engravers. The content of the prints includes portraits of American and European notables of the day, scenes depicting events described in books and periodicals, especially from the Bible, botanical and zoological prints and technical diagrams. This collection offers a breadth of examples to study American engraving in the late 18th and early 19th century. The collection of prints can be used to study a single engraver or to readily compare and contrast the work of various engravers. The prints are probably all duplicated elsewhere in the Library's collections. The book illustrations can be found in copies of the books held by the Library, where they can be better understood in their original context and most, if not all, of the portrait prints are available in the Prints and Photographs Division Biographical File. The collection is broader than it is deep with 274 of the 370 artists represented by ten or fewer prints. Only five artists are represented by more than 100 prints: George B. Ellis, James B. Longacre, Peter Maverick, Benjamin Tanner, and Cornelius Tiebout.