Falls of Cattskill, New York, with Cowpens and Catawba Vignettes, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered "THE FALLS OF CATTSKILL, NEW YORK." The view is taken from inside the hollow beneath an overhanging rock ledge, which arches across the top of the image like a cave mouth. At the left a tall fall of water drops past the opening, and beyond it a deep wooded ravine runs away toward distant mountains under a stormy sky. A single small figure stands on the rocky stream bed in the middle distance, and broken trees lie across the boulders at the right.

The ornamental border is drawn as looping cartouche lines. Above the view is a small uncaptioned emblem of a bear climbing a tree. At each side is an uncaptioned vignette: a Native American man paddling a canoe at the left, and a Native American rider with a lance at the right. The lower left vignette, a cavalry fight with a fallen soldier in the foreground, is lettered "ACTION AT COWPENS 1781." The lower right vignette, mounted troops crossing a river, is lettered "MORGAN CROSSING THE CATAWBA 1781." No artist or engraver is credited under the view. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON & NEW YORK." and the number 44 is engraved at the top right corner of the frame.

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 Battle of Cowpens was fought in South Carolina in January 1781. The title keeps the engraved spelling "CATTSKILL".

The dark, enclosed composition reads strongly on a wall and pairs well with the other American landscape plates from the volume.

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