New Haven Green toward Yale College, Connecticut, Roger Williams, circa 1850

An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered "NEWHAVEN CONNECTICUT, VIEW LOOKING SOUTH WEST, ACROSS THE GREEN, TOWARDS YALE COLLEGE." The view looks across a broad, open green planted with tall elms. Across the middle distance stand a row of public buildings: at the left a Gothic church with a pinnacled tower, then a church with a tall spire and a pedimented portico, a large templelike building with a columned front in the center, and at the right a church with a domed bell tower. Small figures stroll on the grass, and a large elm dominates the right foreground.

Above the view a small uncaptioned emblem shows three boys reading together beneath a tree, with a small building with a spire behind them. A light border of flowering vines frames two lettered vignettes. At the lower left a Puritan with a cane addresses a group of Native American men, one kneeling, lettered "ROGER WILLIAMS PREVENTING THE LEAGUE OF THE NARRAGANSETTS AND PEGNODS TO EXTIRPATE THE WHITES." At the lower right a settler with a musket fights among Native American warriors armed with bows and hatchets, lettered "EXPEDITION OF SETTLERS AND FRIENDLY INDIANS AGAINST THE PEGNODS. 1637." The captions use the period spelling "PEGNODS" for the Pequot people. No artist or engraver is named under the view. The imprint reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON & NEW YORK."

The sheet belongs to History of the United States of America, edited by the English Baptist minister and author John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873) and published by J. and F. Tallis about 1850. The Tallis firm were London publishers of illustrated works sold in parts around the middle of the nineteenth century; in this edition every plate sets its steel engraved view within an ornamental border holding lettered vignettes of American history. The sheet itself names New Haven, Connecticut, and Yale College. The war of 1637 between English colonists, their Native allies and the Pequot people is the subject of the right hand vignette.

A good choice for anyone with ties to New Haven or Yale.

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