Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, Penn Addressing the Colonists, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered below the view "THEATRE, WALNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA." The theater is seen at an angle along the street: a tall stone building with arched upper windows, a decorated frieze, and a ground floor of columns with lamp standards before the doors and playbills on the wall. Lower brick houses run away to the left. In front, a man leads a horse while a dog follows behind, and figures in top hats and bonnets walk the pavement. To the right of the theater a market stall under a draped awning displays baskets of produce beside a wooden shed, and a tall tree and the doorway of a neighboring house close the scene.

The uncaptioned emblem above the view shows a timber raft with a square sail and a small hut, men working long poles at the bow. Below at left, a vignette lettered "PENN ADDRESSING THE COLONISTS." shows William Penn in a broad hat speaking with outstretched arm to a crowd of settlers. At right, "PENN SELECTING THE SITE OF PHILADELPHIA." shows Penn and his companions on a hilltop, one kneeling over an unrolled plan, a Native American man with a gun seated beside them. No artist or engraver credit is lettered under the view. The number 57 is engraved at the top right of the frame. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON, EDINBURGH & DUBLIN."

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.

The lively street scene suits a collection of theater or Philadelphia subjects.

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