Print, Relief

Description

This copy of "The Shaker Settlement, at Canterbury," was published in Robert Sears', A Pictorial History of the United States, published in a number of different editions. The last edition being published by John A. Lee & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, in 1876. The illustration appears on page 41 in each edition. The artist for this illustration has not yet been identified, but according to Robert Emlen, Benson J. Lossing was Sears' chief engraver at the time and either he or someone working under his supervision may have been the engraver. This same illustration had previously appeared in 1847 in Sear s', New Pictorial Family Magazine (2020.16.17) and in 1848 in Sears', A New and Popular Pictorial Description of the United States (2020.16.18).The illustration is Sears' artist rendition of the scene at Canterbury that first appeared in The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge (November, 1835) (See: 2020.16.12). The illustration accompanies a description of the history, beliefs, and practices of the Shaker Society at Canterbury, New Hampshire, also generally copied from The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. While the illustration undoubtedly was done originally as a wood engraving, its appearance in Sears' successive publications indicates that a set of stereotype or electrotype plates were made from the wood engraving. These plates would have then been used to print the illustration in other editions.