Item 182: A Photographic Reproduction by Unknown, of a Lithograph titled, “Bethlehem,” by C[ephas] G[rier] Childs and R[ichard] H. Hobson, 1830, after an Aquatint by Geo[rge] Lehman, (oversized, removed to Print Box #7), ca. 1829
Item — Box: 22, Folder: 5
Dates
- Created: ca. 1829
Creator
- Lehman, George, c. 1830-1870 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Photograph
Condition Note:
Fair.
Measurements:
14 in. x 10 ⅞ in.
Title:
Bethlehem
Description:
A photograph reproduction of a lithograph looking at the town of Bethlehem. This piece was produced from an aquatint by George Lehman, originally produced in circa 1829, and lithographed by Cephas Grier Childs in 1830. The lithograph was published by Cephas Grier Childs and Richard H. Hobson. There is no date or creator known for the photographic reproduction. The scene depicts a finely dressed couple meeting a woman with a pitchfork along the road. There is a city in the distance with farmlands taking up the greater portion of the foreground. In the middle ground, a structure resembling a barn resides in the lower left hand corner of the manuscript.
The scene depicts Bethlehem, a town located in the Northampton and Lehigh counties in eastern Pennsylvania. Settled along the 109-mile long Lehigh River tributary of the Delaware River, this city historically was inhabited by indigenous people that included the Algonquian speaking Lenape. They traded with Dutch and British colonists up the east coast. William Allen who was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant and politician deeded 500 acres along the Monocacy Creek and Lehigh River to the Moravian Church on April 2, 1741. The Moravians would have a grand settlement here and often held missions.
In Valley View of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Gilbert Stuart McClintock writes that it is “[o]ne of the most beautiful views of this town, which, because of its early importance, has been most often pictured than any other place in Pennsylvania, except Philadelphia” (McClintock 34). In the item description, McClintock dates the original drawing by Lehman to be circa 1829.
George Lehman, born in c. 1803 in Switzerland, was a lithographer, engraver, aquatintist, and “ornamental painter,” in Philadelphia around 1825-1870. After immigrating to the United States as a “printer,” he arrived at the port of New York on the ship named “Howard” on June 11, 1824. Lehman was also a skillful landscape painter, and exhibited views of not only Switzerland, but Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts by 1825. He had also served as the assistant to John James Audubon when he visited Florida from 1831-1832. Lehman eventually partnered with Childs & Lehman from 1833-1834 and later with a French lithographer, P. S. Duval, where they operated Lehman & Duval from 7 Bank Alley from 1835-1837.
Born on September 8, 1793 in Plumstead Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Cephas Grier Childs was one of the foremost engravers from Philadelphia. He managed early commercial lithograph firms and created many partnerships including: Pendleton, Kearny & Childs (1829-1830), Childs & Inman (1830-1833), and Childs & Lehman (1833-1835). With his skilled artists and lithographers like Albert Newsam, P. S. Duval and Henry Inman, Childs constructed a growth of popularity for the lithograph medium in Philadelphia.
Richard H. Hobson was born in England during the 1780s and during the antebellum-era, a Philadelphia fancy, stationary, and print store proprietor.
Location:
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Setting). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Publisher location)
Transcription:
{back}
Bethlehem by Lehman
Wanh(?) 6 ½” Nede(?)- No Bonde(?) - Copy
Wanh(?) 6 ½” Nede(?)- No Bonde(?) - Copy
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu