Inhabitants of California, Indigenous Dress and Daily Life Engraving, c1774

Name: Inhabitants of California, Indigenous Dress and Daily Life Engraving, c1774
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-14129-34
Price: 325 USD
Availability: InStock

$325

€290 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: circa 1774
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 39.5 × 24.8 cm (15.6 × 9.8 in)
Condition: Good. Good original condition, with light age-related toning and minor surface wear consistent with an 18th-century engraving. The plate impression remains clear and evenly inked. Margins are present and stable.
Places: California
Reference: BG-14129-34

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

The Indigenous inhabitants of California in four small scenes on a single copper-engraved sheet, attributed to John Hawkesworth (London, c.1774). The heading reads "The Inhabitants of California in their respective Dresses" with "Vol. I. p. 234" at the upper right.

The sheet is divided into two framed views, each with two captioned figures. At the upper left a man carries a spear and a bundle over his shoulder, captioned "An Indian Man returned from Fishing". Beside him, "An Indian Fishing on his Bark-Log" kneels on a raft of lashed logs and paddles across open water. In the lower view, "An Indian Woman of Distinction covered with the Skin of a Bird in its Feathers" stands with a bow, while "An Indian Woman in the ordinary Deer Skin Dress" is seen from behind, wrapped in a hide. A snow-capped volcanic peak rises behind the women.

California was barely known in print to British readers at this date, and plates of this kind were assembled from the accounts of earlier voyagers. The sheet is a European reconstruction of dress, tools and fishing methods rather than an eyewitness record.

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