First Baptist and Unitarian Churches, Providence, Roger Williams, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, with two views side by side, lettered below them "FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AT PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND." and "UNITARIAN CHURCH AT PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND." At left, the Baptist church is a broad two story meeting house with a pedimented porch, rising to a tall tower with a clock and a slender spire; gravestones stand in the foreground, where a gravedigger stands in an open grave with a spade, a skull on the ground beside him, and another man stands watching. At right, the Unitarian church has a columned portico with three doors and a tall spire with a clock, and a horseman, a couple and other small figures stand on the open ground before it.

The emblem above the views shows a Native American man reclining against a stone lettered "ROGER WILLIAMS", a gun across his knees, among flowers and grasses. Four small vignettes sit in the side borders. The upper two are uncaptioned: a settler with a staff and shoulder bag climbing a slope at left, and a man seated in the woods beside a small fire, a gun at his side, at right. Below at left, "ROGER WILLIAMS RECEIVED BY MASSASOIT AND CANONIENS." shows Williams greeted by two Native American men before a lodge. At right, "FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE INDIANS AND FIRST SETTLERS." shows a Native American man clasping hands with a seated settler at a cottage door. No artist or engraver credit is lettered under the views. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON, & NEW YORK."

The plate belongs to the History of the United States of America, edited by John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873), the English Baptist minister and author, and published by J. and F. Tallis about 1850. 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.

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