Suspension and Pull Bridges in America and Natural Rock Bridge, Virginia - 1805

Name: Suspension and Pull Bridges in America and Natural Rock Bridge, Virginia - 1805
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-14000-43
Price: 215 USD
Availability: InStock

$215

€190 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

Buy now Ask a question

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

Date: 1805
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 23 × 19 cm (9.1 × 7.5 in)
Condition: Good. This engraving is in good condition with light foxing and minor discoloration along the edges, typical of its age. The hand-coloring is well-preserved, lending vibrancy to the scenes.
Period: The Early Republic
Places: Virginia
Reference: BG-14000-43

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

Two views of bridges in America, an original copper engraving of 1805 from Friedrich Johann Bertuch's Bilderbuch fuer Kinder (Picture Book for Children), printed with hand color. The plate is headed in German, French, Dutch and English as Miscellanea, and the two images are marked Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

Fig. 1, on the right, shows the Natural Bridge in Virginia, a great limestone arch spanning a narrow gorge, with trees growing on the rock face and a road running beneath where two small figures stand. Fig. 2, on the left, shows a rope suspension bridge across a deep ravine, with men crossing the span and others working at the winches on the near bank, while a basket slung from a cable on a lower line carries a passenger across the gap. Thatched huts sit beyond the ravine and high mountains rise behind them.

The Natural Bridge in Rockbridge County, Virginia, was one of the best-known natural wonders of the young United States, and Bertuch's picture book, issued in twelve volumes from 1790 to 1830, paired it with a rope bridge from another part of the New World.

★