Picturesque America
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Picturesque America'' was a two-volume set of books describing and illustrating the scenery of America, which grew out of an earlier series in '' Appleton's Journal''. It was published by D. Appleton and Company of New York in 1872 and 1874 and edited by the romantic poet and journalist
William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...
(1794-1878), who also edited the
New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...
. The layout and concept was similar to that of '' Picturesque Europe''. The work's essays, together with its nine hundred wood engravings and fifty steel engravings, are considered to have had a profound influence on the growth of tourism and the historic preservation movement in the United States. __NOTOC__ The preface described "the design of this publication to present full descriptions and elaborate pictorial delineations of the scenery characteristic of all the different parts of our country. The wealth of material for this purpose is almost boundless." This two-volume set and others of the same genre, achieved great popularity in the nineteenth century. Their illustrations provided a tour of nineteenth century America, unspoilt and pastoral, its centres of commerce, ports, architecture and natural treasures. In a modern (2001) treatment of the work, Sue Rainey, who is a historian of American graphic arts and has a particular interest in the artists who drew landscapes and cityscapes for periodical and book illustrations, wrote ''"As the first publication to celebrate the entire continental nation, it enabled Americans, after the trauma of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, to construct a national self-image based on reconciliation between North and South and incorporation of the West."'' (p. xiii) The volumes display both steel and wood engravings based on the paintings of some of the best American landscape painters of the nineteenth century, primarily Harry Fenn and his friend Douglas Woodward, but also including
John Frederick Kensett John Frederick Kensett (March 22, 1816 – December 14, 1872) was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. Kensett's signature works ...
,
William Stanley Haseltine William Stanley Haseltine (June 11, 1835 – February 3, 1900) was an American painter and draftsman who was associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting, the Hudson River School and Luminism. Early life and education Born in Philadelph ...
, James David Smillie, John William Casilear,
Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
, A. C. Warren, David Johnson,
Granville Perkins Granville Perkins (1830–1895) was an American illustrator and painter, best known for landscape and marine subjects. He contributed illustrations to numerous journals and books of the 1870s and 1880s. He also painted in oils and watercolors ...
, Felix Octavius Carr Darley, Albert Fitch Bellows, James McDougal Hart, Casimir Clayton Griswold (1834-1918),
Worthington Whittredge Thomas Worthington Whittredge (May 22, 1820 – February 25, 1910) was an American artist of the Hudson River School. Whittredge was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists includin ...
, Charles G. Rosenberg (1818 - 1879), William Ludwell Sheppard (1833-1912), Homer Dodge Martin, Alfred Rudolph Waud, William Hart, Robert Swain Gifford, Jules Tavernier, William Hamilton Gibson, and
Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...
. Engravers included
Robert Hinshelwood Robert Douglas Hinshelwood (born 1938) is an English psychiatrist and academic. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex. He trained as a doctor and psychiatrist. He has taken an interest in the Therapeu ...
(1812-1885), Edward Paxman Brandard (1819-1898), Samuel Valentine Hunt (1803-1893), William Wellstood (1819-1900), William Chapin (1802-1888),
Henry Bryan Hall Henry Bryan Hall (11 May 1808 London – 25 April 1884 Morrisania, New York), was an English stipple engraver and portrait painter. He was apprenticed to the engravers Benjamin Smith and Henry Meyer. Later he worked for Henry Thomas Ryall wh ...
(1808-1884). Robert Hinshelwood was born in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
in 1812 and emigrated to America in 1835 where he became renowned for his landscapes, etchings and engravings. His meticulous attention to detail was appreciated by publishing houses such as Appleton's and Harper's, and also by the
Continental Bank Note Company ABCorp is an American corporation providing contract manufacturing and related services to the authentication, payment and secure access business sectors. Its history dates back to 1795 as a secure engraver and printer, and assisting the newl ...
who employed him to produce plates for the printing of currency. He died in New York. ;Volume I engravings: * On the Coast of Maine * St. John's and Ocklawaha Rivers * Up and Down the Columbia * Lookout Mountain and the Tennessee * Richmond, Scenic and Historic * Natural Bridge, Virginia * Delaware Water-Gap * Mauch Chunk * On the Savannah * The French Broad * The White Mountains * Neversink Highlands * St. Augustine, Florida * Charleston and its Suburbs * Weyer's Cave, Virginia * Scenes on the Brandywine * Cumberland Gap * Watkins Glen * Scenes on Eastern Long Island * The Lower Mississippi * Mackinac * Our Great National Park * Harper's Ferry * Scenes in Virginia * Newport * West Virginia * Lake Superior * Northern California * Niagara * Trenton Falls * The Yosemite Falls * Providence and Vicinity * South Shore of Lake Erie * On the Coast of California. ;Volume II engravings: * Highlands and Palisades of the Hudson * Philadelphia and its Suburbs * Northern New Jersey * Valley of the Connecticut * Baltimore and Environs * The Catskills * The Juniata * On the Ohio * The Plains and the Sierras * The Susquehanna * Boston * Lake George and Lake Champlain * Mount Mansfield * Valley of the Housatonic * The Upper Mississippi * Valley of the Genesee * St. Lawrence and the Saguenay * Eastern Shore * The Adirondack Region * The Connecticut Shore of the Sound * Lake Memphremagog * The Mohawk, Albany and Troy * The Upper Delaware * Water-Falls at Cayuga Lake * The Rocky Mountains * The Canons of the Colorado * Chicago and Milwaukee * A Glance at the Northwest * The Mammoth Cave * New York and Brooklyn * Washington This ambitious work was published and delivered as a subscription; semi-monthly parts were sent out to subscribers. Once complete, the subscription would be bound into volumes. A variety of bindings were available, from cloth-bound with leather corners at the low end to full Morocco leather bindings with elaborate tooling. The stately, bound two volume set was proudly displayed in parlors of subscriber homes as a show of status. Nowadays, the publication frequently appears in antiquarian book collections; sometimes in pristine collection, but more frequently in poor condition. Lower-quality examples are frequently disassembled, their engravings removed and sold separately.


See also

* '' Appleton's Journal'', a monthly journal including many of the same artists * ''
The Aldine ''The Aldine'' was a monthly arts magazine published in New York in the 1800s. History ''The Aldine'' was published by Sutton Browne & Company starting in 1868 as ''The Aldine Press'', which was shortened in 1871. Subtitles included ''A typogra ...
'', a monthly journal of the same period established as a rival to ''Appleton's'' and employing many of the same artists * '' Picturesque Europe'' * ''
Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt ''Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt'' was a lavishly illustrated set of books published by D. Appleton & Co. in the early 1880s based on their phenomenally successful ''Picturesque America'' and '' Picturesque Europe'' series. It was ...
''


References


Citations


Bibliography

* . * . *Sue Rainey - ''Creating Picturesque America'' (Applewood Books, 2001)


External links

{{commonscatinline Travel guide books 1872 books 1874 books D. Appleton & Company books