Noah Webster LL.D., Oval Portrait, S. F. B. Morse and J. Rogers, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, a portrait lettered "NOAH WEBSTER, LL.D" on a tablet below the image. The sitter is shown at half length, seated in an upholstered armchair and turned slightly to the left, his gray hair brushed back. He wears a dark coat with a high collar and a white cravat, and holds a sheaf of papers in his right hand across his lap. The figure is set against a dark ground inside an oval.

Instead of the historical vignettes used on the view plates, the oval sits in a broad engraved frame of leafy scrollwork edged with beading. At the top, two putti sit on either side of an architectural cartouche with a mask, and at each side a small medallion holds the profile head of a bearded man in a cap. A winged mask sits at the base, above the title tablet and a scrolled pedestal. The names "S.F.B.Morse." at the left and "J. Rogers." at the right are lettered below the frame. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON & NEW YORK."

It comes from Hinton's History of the United States of America, published by J. and F. Tallis about 1850. John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873) was an English Baptist minister and author, and J. and F. Tallis were London publishers of illustrated works sold in parts around the middle of the nineteenth century. Each plate of the edition pairs a central view with an engraved border carrying small lettered scenes from American history. S. F. B. Morse is Samuel F. B. Morse (1791 to 1872), the painter, later known for the telegraph.

A portrait plate in an ornate frame, it hangs well in a library or beside the view plates from the same volume.

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