The Waterfall of Niagara, Engraving Published by Thomas Kelly, circa 1830

Niagara Falls seen from below, lettered "The Waterfall of Niagara." with the imprint "London, Published by Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row." The view looks up from the rocky foot of the cataract at a great curtain of water pouring over the cliff in two broad sheets, divided by a tall pillar of rock crowned with spruce trees. White spray boils up from the plunge pool, and on the right a steep wooded bank, lit by raking shafts of sunlight, is overhung by dense trees and large leaved plants. A group of gentlemen in top hats stands on the shore at right, one pointing at the torrent and another seated on a rock with a cane, while two tiny figures stand farther off near the water. No artist or engraver is named.

Thomas Kelly was one of the most successful London publishers of part works in the early nineteenth century, issuing geographies, histories and collections of voyages in weekly numbers for a wide readership; he later served as Lord Mayor of London. The same address, 17 Paternoster Row, appears on a Kelly plate dated 1829, which places this one around 1830.

Niagara, on the border between the United States and Canada, was already one of the most famous natural wonders in the world. Goat Island divides the river into the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 made the journey from New York far easier, so that the falls were fast becoming a destination for travelers. Prints like this one, with the drama of the scene heightened and the figures made tiny against it, served the many readers who would never see the falls for themselves, and the engraver's lush, almost tropical vegetation shows how imagination filled the gaps.

A charming early image of Niagara for collectors of American and Canadian views, of waterfalls or of early nineteenth century book illustration.

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