FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: From this admirably chosen spot, the Bay of New York appears with every accessory of beauty. The city itself comes into the left of the picture to an advantage seen from no other point of view, the flocks of river-craft scud past in all directions, men-of-war, merchantmen, steamers, and ferry-boats, fill up the moving elements of the panorama; and far away beyond stretches the broad harbour, with its glassy or disturbed waters, in all the varieties of ever-changing sea-view. It was on this side that Hudson, who had felt the hostility of the Manhattan Indians, found a friendlier tribe, and made his first amicable visit on shore. The Indian tradition, springing from that visit, and describing the first intoxication they had ever experienced, is extremely amusing.
"A long time ago, before men. with a white skin had ever been seen, some Indians, fishing at a place where the sea widens, espied something at a distance moving upon the water. They hurried ashore, collected their neighbours, who together returned and viewed intensely this astonishing phenomenon. What it could be, baffled all conjecture. Some supposed it to be a large fish or animal, others that it was a very big house, floating on the sea. Perceiving it moving towards land, the spectators concluded that it would be proper to send runners in different directions to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send off for the immediate attendance of their warriors. These arriving in numbers to behold the sight, and perceiving that it was actually moving towards them (coming into the river or bay), they conjectured that it must be a remarkably large house, in which the Manitto (or Great Spirit), was coming to visit them.
They were much afraid, and yet under no apprehension that the Great Spirit would injure them. They worshipped him. The chiefs now assembled at York Island, and consulted in what manner they should receive their Manitto: meat was prepared for a sacrifice; the women were directed to prepare the best of victuals; idols or images were examined and put in order; a grand dance they thought would be pleasing, and, in addition to the sacrifice, might appease him, if angry. The conjurers were also set to work, to determine what this phenomenon portended, and what the result would be. To these, men, women, and children, looked up for advice and protection. Utterly at a loss what to do, and distracted alternately by hope and fear, in this confusion a grand dance commenced. Meantime fresh runners arrived, declaring it to be a great house, of various colours, and full of living creatures. It now appeared certain that it was their Manitto, probably bringing some new kind of game. Others arriving, declared it positively to be full of people, of different colour and dress from theirs, and that one, in particular, appeared altogether red. This then must be the Manitto. They were lost in admiration; could not imagine what the vessel was, whence it came, or what all this portended. They are now hailed from the vessel in a language they could not understand; they answer by a shout or yell in their way. The house (or large canoe, as some render it) stops. A smaller canoe comes on shore, with the red man in it; some stay by his canoe, to guard it. The chiefs and wise men form a circle, into which the red man and two attendants approach. He salutes them with friendly countenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are amazed at their colour and dress, particularly with him who, glittering in red, wore something (perhaps lace, or buttons) they could not comprehend. He must be the great Manitto, they thought; but why should he have a white skin? A large elegant hockhack (gourd, i. e. bottle, decanter, &c.) is brought by one of the supposed Manitto's servants, from which a substance is poured into a small cup or glass, and handed to the Manitto. He drinks, has the glass refilled, and handed to the chief near him; he takes it, smells it, and passes it to the next, who does the same. The glass in this manner is passed round the circle, and is about to be returned to the red-clothed man, when one of them, a great warrior, harangues them on the impropriety of returning the cup unemptied. It was handed to them, he said, by the Manitto, to drink out of as he had; to follow his example would please him-to reject it might provoke his wrath; and if no one else would, he would drink it himself, let what would follow; for it was better for one even to die, than a whole nation to he destroyed. He then took the glass, smelled at it, again addressed them, bidding adieu, and drank the contents. All eyes were now fixed (on the first Indian in New York who had tasted the poison which has since affected so signal a revolution in the condition of the native Americans). He soon began to stagger; the women cried, supposing him in fits; he rolled on the ground: they bemoan his fate; they thought him dying. He fell asleep. They at first thought he had expired, but soon perceived he still breathed. He awoke, jumped up, and declared he never felt more happy; he asked for more; and the whole assembly imitating him, became intoxicated."
In descending the river, after he had penetrated to Albany, Hudson ran his little craft ashore at Weehawken; but the ground was a soft ooze, and she was got off' without damage, and proceeded to sea.
BIOGRAPHY OF ARTIST AND HISTORY OF THIS PRINT: William Henry Bartlett, (born in London, 26 March 1809; died at sea off Malta, 13 Sept 1854) was an English draughtsman, active also in the Near East, Continental Europe and North America. He was a prolific artist and an intrepid traveler. His work became widely known through numerous engravings after his drawings published in his own and other writers' topographical books. His primary concern was to extract the picturesque aspects of a place and by means of established pictorial conventions to render 'lively impressions of actual sights', as he wrote in the preface to The Nile Boat (London, 1849). The background for his work on his views of American Scenery, of which the picture represented is one of his several hundred illustrations on the subject, is as follows: In early 1836, having just returned from completing a series of sketches of the Low Countries of the Netherlands area, Mr. Bartlett's success with prior illustration projects allowed him to remain at home for only a month. His name, as an artist, was exceedingly popular. Everything to which he lent the charm of his pencil was crowned with success; and thus encouraged, his publisher, George Virtue and Sons of London, resolved upon another extensive illustrative work, that of the new lands of America. The idea was suggested by Mr. Nathaniel Parker Willis, to whom Mr. Bartlett had struck up a promising friendship. In April 1836, Mr. Bartlett went to Paris, and then to Havre where he boarded a large steamship to New York. This would be one of three visits to North America by Bartlett, this first venture lasting the longest, from July or August of 1836 to July 1837. The second tour in 1838 lasted from early summer to December, and the last in 1841-1842 was more focused on drawings of Canada than the USA. All of his American Scenery plates bear the date of 1837, 1838 or 1839. Bartlett's illustrations were of most of the popular views and places of the time. Not willing or able to take the time to leave the more frequented routes, Bartlett usually sketched the picturesque or sublime views that were reasonably close and often identifiable because other travelers and artists had referred to them. Working as he did on commission from Virtue, having no "permanent share or copyright" on his works, being often absent from home for long periods, it was really little wonder that he kept to fairly well-known itineraries, which would give him the best chance to fill his portfolio with sketches for the machine of which he was so important a part. He was also able to get assistance from NP Willis in planning his route, as this well known American author and journalist had traveled extensively in the Eastern US and in 1827 and 1836 had visited Niagara Falls by way of the Erie Canal. Bartlett was quoted as saying that nothing struck him as much in America "so much as its comparative want of associations". Here he had to accept a landscape nearly empty of a long tradition of architecture, of all the antiquities and monuments found so often in his views of Europe and the Middle East. However, the opposite was true that America offered Bartlett to record a landscape before it became settled. "He who traveled in America", said Willis, "must feed his imagination on the future. Instead of looking through a valley, which has presented the same aspect for hundreds of years, the American sees a valley with what it will be, the villages that will soon sparkle on the hill-sides, the mills, bridges, canals, and railroads that will span and border the stream. And it is for this fact that Bartlett's views of America are so valuable, because they capture the landscape before the developments of man set in: the buildings, barges, viaducts, cart paths and roads and deforestation that now make certain views nearly unrecognizable from this period.
Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, etching, heliogravure, lithograph, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, and NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS" is the term commonly used for these paper prints that were created from a master plate, and were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books. These paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard or onion skin frontis to protect them from transferring the image to the opposite page. These prints were usually on much thicker quality woven rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone lithographs. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. A NOSTALGIC VIEW OF AMERICAN SCENERY ! | |
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