1851 W Finden Engraving Ralph Abercromby After Original from the James Abercromby Collection

Beautiful steel plate engraving, original ( NOT A REPRODUCTION ) and genuine print from 1851 shows superb depth and detail with a sharp and crisp image. Once properly matted and framed, these marvellous engravings make wonderful pieces of decorative art for the home or studio. Published by the John Tallis Company in London. Measurements as follows: paper size 7-1/4" by 11", image including decorative borders 6 x 8", margins approximately 1". Paper thickness and quality: heavy stock, stable. Paper colour: off-white/cream. Imperfections: bottom margin has watermark 6-1/2 x 2" encroaching on lower edge of decorative work, image area no defects, verso clean. Light foxing. The image is of the Right Honourable William Windham, drawn by Sir John Reynolds and engraved by W.T. Fry. The publisher of this work is the John Tallis Company of London, an English cartographic company that published views, maps, atlases and scholarly works from 1838 to 1851. Their main engraver was John Rapkin, known for his decorative stylized work and lovely vignettes and who is considered the last bastion of English decorative cartography in the 19th century. The John Tallis Company also used engravings by other fine artists, such as William Finden, Thomas Stothard, DJ Point, Peter Lightfoot and several others. For general interest, the background of a few of these magnificent engravers follows. William Finden originally served as an apprentice under the guidance of James Mitan but his work is more generally influenced by James Heath. He first worked engraving book illustrations - one of the more noteworthy of these early plates were Smirkes illustrations for Don Quixote. His fastidious style and smooth finish made his work extremely popular and along with his brother Edward he eventually hired a company of assistants to produce additional works. Thomas Stothard ( 1755-1834) was both a painter and engraver who produced about 5000 designs, of which 3000 were engraved. A 4-volume collection of his engravings is now held by the British Museum. William Thomas Fry ( 1789-1843, active 1829 to 1935 ) among other works engraved 8 portraits for Edmond Lodge's Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, contributed 4 plates to Fisher's National Portrait Gallery 1830-1834 and 11 to Jones' National Gallery 1836. He was one of the earlist engravers to experiment with steel plates. Scans available on request.…