Birch, William

Oblong folio in sheets of laid paper (17 3/4 x 20 7/8 in.; 458 x 530 mm). Engraved title-page with the arms of Pennsylvania, letterpress preface with a list of the plates, engraved plan of Philadelphia by W. Barker, with 31 engraved views of the city by William and Thomas Birch and William Barker after drawings by the Birches including 21 in first state, 8 in the second state, one possibly in a third state and one extra view of "Schuylkill Bridge High St." with both the broadside prospectus for the 2-part series "Philadelphia and New York,"  and the priced subscribers' list bound in at the end; some light foxing to one plate and introductory text only, engravings have offset onto versos of preceding, but very clean set overall with only an old tear repaired to one plate. Handsome American binding of contemporary mottled calf, sides and spine gilt-ruled and decorated with interlocking floral device, red morocco label; some rubbing to covers and spines, upper joint hinge with old buckram reinforcement. Housed in red morocco gilt case.

Purchased from The Old Print Shop, 1962 (letter from Harry Newman laid in) who sold on commission for Mrs. William Millar, direct descendant of William and Thomas Birch (letter addressed to Newman laid in)

Deak 228; Snyder City of Independence; View of Philadelphia before 1800 224-248; Wolf Legacies of Genius 252-253; cf. Sowerby/Library of Thomas Jefferson 4:4169

see cataloguing
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The earliest published views of an American city and a celebration of Philadelphia as the nation's capital, the present a rare "extra-illustrated" copy with Birch family provenance.

While intended as an artistic paean of the city itself, Birch intended these images to attract trade and commerce and lure industrious, entrepreneurial settlers from Europe. Birch set out to record the city by portraying not only "the background for living, but also...the full quality of that living itself" (Snyder). The artist and his son patiently recorded incidents and impressions that imparted the work with the vibrancy and true color of everyday life: the ships and cargo that came into port; the elegant civil and private edifices; the markets and the produce sold there. The streets bustle with coaches, wagons, and wheelbarrows; there is a military drill, and a procession commemorating the death of George Washington. Herein the fashionable of Philadelphia attend to business or recreation while native American Indians in colorful costumes leisurely stroll through gardens.

The roster at the end of the portfolio lists 157 initial subscribers, including such noteworthies as Philadelphia publisher and bookseller Mathew Carey; the mayors of New York and Philadelphia; the Marquis d'Yrujo, Spanish Ambassador to the United States; the former Governor of Pennsylvania T. Mifflin, and the Vice-President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, an ardent bibliophile. In his autobiography, Birch wrote of Jefferson's copy: "During the whole of his presidency, [it] laid on his sofa...till it became ragged and dirty, but was not suffered to be taken away"

Birch published three later editions of the portfolio, with some variations, in 1804, 1809, and 1828. As indicated in the prospectus bound herein, a second series depicting New York, the first federal capital, was planned but never completed. For nearly thirty years, Birch's monumental work remained the sole record of Philadelphia as it appeared upon the eve of a new century. "His was essentially an act of faith," writes Snyder, "a record of the present made with a conscious eye to what the future would think when looking back upon it."

Scarce. There are no more than a dozen copies in American institutions, with few known to be in private hands, in either colored or uncolored states. The last copies of the 1800 edition sold at auction were those from Snyder (Bloomsbury, 19 November, 2008) and Laird Park (Sotheby's, 29 November, 2000), prior to which there was one in the sale of the Library of George M. Pflaumer Charitable Unitrust (Sotheby’s, 3 June 1997, lot 6) and another in a sale at Parke-Bernet (19 May 1964, lot 13). Swann Galleries sold a poor copy, 'as is" in 2002.