Capitol of North Carolina, Raleigh, Domed State House View, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered "CAPITOL OF NORTH CAROLINA, RALEIGH." The view shows the front of a large stone building of three stories under a low hipped roof, with a central dome topped by a small columned lantern. A projecting center bay has a pediment carried on four columns above an arcaded ground floor with three arched openings. Tall trees frame the building at the left and right, smoke rises from a chimney, and on the lawn in the foreground one man pulls a heavy roller by its long handle while a second man sits on it, a dog beside them; a figure stands in the central doorway and another under a side porch at the right.

Above the view a small uncaptioned emblem shows two hunters disguised in animal skins stalking buffalo with bows. A border of leafy scrolls holds two vignettes. At the lower left two colonists stand with a group of Native American men whose hands are bound behind them, a ship at anchor behind, lettered "CAPTIVE INDIANS SOLD AS SLAVES BY THE COLONISTS TO THE WEST INDIAN PLANTERS. 1680." At the lower right a mounted officer in a tricorne hat rides through a fight with Native American warriors, one lying on the ground, lettered "GOVERNOR CRAVEN EXPELLING THE CHEROKEES, &c. FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 1715." The captions are quoted as engraved. No artist or engraver is credited under the view. The imprint reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON, & NEW YORK."

The plate was issued in History of the United States of America, edited by John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873), the English Baptist minister and author. J. and F. Tallis were London publishers of illustrated works sold in parts around the middle of the nineteenth century, and the plates of this edition set a central steel engraved view inside an engraved ornamental border with small lettered vignettes of episodes from American history. The building and city are named in the lettering below the view.

The symmetrical facade gives the plate a calm, formal look on the wall.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.