Paul Revere

Engraving with hand-coloring, 1770, a rare example, the hands of the clock reading 10:20 (Brigham notes there is a variant with the hands at 8:00), the colors fresh, on laid paper with the watermark letter "W", with margins, in good condition apart from a central horizontal crease with associated tiny loss at right and pin-hole at center, two short tears at the lower sheet edge, pale discoloration, framed

The print is in good condition as catalogued. There is a central flattened horizontal crease extending the width of the print with an associated tiny loss in the smoke just to the left of center and a very tiny pin hole at center. The verso suggests there was also an additional horizontal crease and a central vertical crease which are barely visible on the recto. The two tears at the lower sheet edge measure c. 1 inch each and extend just up to the text and both are backed with Japan. There is a shorter diagonal tear at the left sheet edge measuring 1/3 inch and extending just into the hat of the figures at left. Pale discoloration is comprised of a few fox marks in the image, most noticeable at upper right, and mottled staining due to age. Discoloration is strongest on the verso.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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.

According to family history the print was framed in 1841 and this original frame and glass are included in the lot.

PROVENANCE
Reverend Dr. Mather Byles, Sr.
By descent to James Waller, descendant through the Almon family of Halifax, Nova Scotia
Eldred's, March 28-29, 1986, Lot 220

On March 26, 1770 both the Boston Evening Post and the Boston Gazette advertised the sale of "A Print, containing the representation of the late horrid Massacre in King-street", available for purchase from the printers Edes and Gill.  Seven days later, the same two papers carried an advertisement for the sale of "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power: An Original Print, representing the late horrid Massacre in Kingstreet, taken on the spot."  Given that the prints were virtually identical in their composition, it was natural to assume that the first, engraved by Paul Revere, had inspired the second, engraved by Henry Pelham.  In fact, a letter date March 29^th from Pelham to Revere very clearly states that the former had lent his print to the latter for the purposes of consultation/guidance and its author was justifiably outraged when the "dictates of Honor and Justice" were so completely undone by Revere's plagiaristic act.   Given the volatility of the times, it is certainly possible that Revere's primary intention was to expeditiously foment the passions of his fellow patriots in opposition to the British Crown, and that on some level he felt the ends justified the means.  Regardless, it is Revere's version of Pelham's image which struck the first visual chord with the colonists and which continues today to be considered the most important engraving of America's earliest days.  As Clarence Brigham notes in Paul Revere's Engravings, the print is irrefutably "the corner-stone of any American collection." 

 

Interestingly enough, Brigham does not consider the print a "rare" item.  It is known that Revere paid the firm of Edes and Gill to print 200 copies of the print and at the time of the publication of Paul Revere's Engravings in 1954, the author had located at least 25 copies in both public and private collections.  It is also known that Revere eventually altered his initial engraving by changing the time noted on the First Church clock tower from 8:00 to 10:20, presumably to more accurately reflect the circumstances of the bloody event.  While impressions of both variants (states?) have been found, those with the earlier time are relatively rarer.   Aside from this variation, differences in impressions can also be seen in the hand coloring, which has been loosely attributed to Christian Remick due to an inscription presumably by the artist himself on the copy in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. However, while these disparities help differentiate the various impressions, what distinguishes the particular copy being offered here is its unique provenance.  

 

The print was first owned by Dr. Reverend Mather Byles (1703-1788), a descendant of the great Puritan ministers John Cotton and Richard Mather (who also anteceded Cotton and Increase Mather).  In 1773 Byles became the first Congregationalist minister of the Hollis Street Church, located just a few blocks away from the First Church clock tower featured in Revere's engraving and on the other side of Boston Common.  (In 1787 the church succumbed to a fire, only to be rebuilt in 1788 by Charles Bulfinch, the first American architect). Byles' ownership of the engraving is ironic, given his position as a fervent supporter of the British Crown and vociferous refusal to leave Boston at the outbreak of the War of Independence.  A well-regarded poet and wit, he was recorded as saying, "Which is better - to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or by three thousand tyrants not a mile away?"   In 1777 he was arrested for his Tory leanings, scheduled to be deported, subjected to house arrest and later released. 

 

Following his death, the print descended to his two unmarried daughters Mary and Catherine, the famous "Byles Sisters", who remained in their father's Boston house following his death and have been identified by scholars as probable inspirations for Nathanial Hawthorn's House of the Seven Gables.  According to reports, visitors to the house were always shown John Singleton Copley's portrait of their father, executed in 1765.  Interestingly, Copley was a cousin to Henry Pelham; both artists would return to Britain together following the war.  

 

Upon the death of the last Byles sister in 1837, the contents of the house - including the Copley portrait and Revere engraving - were bequeathed to the branch of the family which, led by Reverend Dr. Mather Byles, Jr. (1743-1814), himself a former rector of the North Church in Boston, had relocated in 1776 to Halifax, Nova Scotia to avoid persecution.  The print continued to descend in the family to his daughter Rebecca who eventually married Dr. William James Almon. 

 

By 1954 the Revere engraving was still in Halifax and in the possession of Ms. Susie Almon who, according to personal (family) correspondence, decided to sell the inherited engraving.  When she failed to incite interest amongst her relatives, she approached the Boston Atheneum and was met with an enthusiastic response.  However at the last minute a cousin in Philadelphia by the name of Emma B. Gates offered to buy the work for a sum of $600, a value established as the result of consultations with dealers at Kennedy Galleries, etc. Mrs. Gates's husband, Thomas B. Gates, was President of the University of Pennsylvania from 1930-1944, and her son Thomas Gates, Jr. would serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1959 to 1961 under Eisenhower and later as President and CEO of J.P. Morgan.  Following Mrs. Gates' death, the print was bequeathed to her  stepson, James A. Waller, who then consigned the print in March of 1986 to Eldred's auction house along with other items which had descended in the family.

Revere's engraving remains one of the foremost documents of the earliest days of the Revolution and America's birth as a nation.  The debt it owes to Pelham's original composition has become an intrinsic part of the narrative which has only added to its iconic status.  However, by virtue of the unique and important provenance outlined here, this particular impression of Revere's most notable print transcends the historic circumstances of its conception to become an even greater part of American history.