Ford, Henry Chapman

A fine collection of etchings depicting California missions.  N.p., ca. 1881–1891



20 etchings (all oblong, sheet size of the largest: 10  3/8 x 15 in.; 265 x 381 mm).  Condition generally very good, with very light foxing on two plates.  Etchings matted and bound in a cloth-covered album. 

A fine collection of views of Spanish missions by the earliest significant etcher in Southern California, all signed in the plate and with 17 of them signed in pencil by Ford.  Henry Chapman Ford's etchings are among the earliest published views of the missions of Southern California and they were highly sophisticated technically for the time and place they were created.  The etchings were based on oil sketches Ford made of the remaining portions of the mission buildings, combined with his study of photographs, drawings, and published descriptions.

Collected here are panoramic views of the Franciscan missions of Southern California and six depictions of Santa Barbara landmarks.  Ford resided in Santa Barbara from 1875 until his death in 1894.  His etching of the California missions, for which he is justly famous, were exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.