Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, with Fort Stephenson 1813 Vignette, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered below the view "KENYON COLLEGE, OHIO." The view shows a long stone building of three stories in the Gothic manner, its rooflines broken by tall pointed spires and pinnacles, with a pale gabled center block and a wing angling back at left. A broad lawn fills the foreground, where a couple with a small child and a dog, and other walkers, cross the grass. Trees stand at both ends under a streaked, cloudy sky.

Above the view, the emblem vignette is a harvest still life of melons, squash, grapes and a gourd with a spade, a rake and an axe. Two small scenes are set into the lower corners of the scrolling border: at left soldiers in tall caps climbing against a fort, captioned "REPULSE OF THE BRITISH AT FORT STEPHENSON. 1813."; at right an officer addressing a group of men by the shore, with soldiers and a horse behind, captioned "LA FITTE THE PIRATE CHIEF REFUSING TO SERVE THE BRITISH. 1814." The script credit under the lower left corner of the view reads "Drawn by I. Cooke." The imprint reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON & NEW YORK." The number 72 is engraved at the top right corner of the view.

The plate comes from 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. 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, as here. Fort Stephenson, in northern Ohio, was successfully defended against a British attack in 1813, during the War of 1812.

An Ohio subject from an English published history, suited to a college or Ohio collection.

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