DUNNSVILLE [Wayne, Maine]; [ Hand-colored steel engraving ]

from The Ladies' Repository; Steel Engraving; 6 7/8" x 4 3/8"; 1 pages; A beautifully hand-colored steel engraving from the April, 1849 issue of The Ladies' Repository. Image measures 6 7/8" x 4 3/8" (14" x 11" matted). Matted in white stock with clear mylar. A handsome rendering of a commercial endeavor near the town of Wayne, Maine, depicting "R. B. Dunn's Scythe Factory" and other commercial buildings on both sides of the river (including the edge of a mill on the right), with a horse-drawn wagon crossing the bridge, a small boat on the river and a man sitting onshore near the falls fishing in the foreground. As early as 1838 the first scythe shop had been opened at North Wayne known as the Wayne Scythe Manufacturing Company. In 1840 it was taken over and expanded by Reuben B. Dunn. Mr. Dunn had not only a scythe factory, but also a brickyard, a potash kiln, and what a grinding and repair shop for edged tools. In 1848, an advertisement in the Genesee Farmer proclaimed of R. B. Dunn's Scythe factory -- "This Establishment has now become the Largest in the United States, and probably in the World, being capable of turning off Fourteen Thousand Dozen of Scythes annually." By 1856 the company had become North Wayne Scythes and their product was awarded first prize at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. They expanded production to axes, knives, and other edged tools. Unfortunately, in 1860 "owing to defalcation and absconding of their treasurer," the company was transferred to the appointed assignees George W. Tewksbury and Josiah F. Taylor. These gentlemen conducted the business in such a successful manner that all creditors were satisfied and the business flourished, eventually producing handsomely made swords which armed Union officers during the Civil War. Evidently one version of this engraving is credited to Elijah C. Middleton an engraver and printer in Cincinnati, Ohio, though this one simply states "Drawn and engraved expressly for the Ladies' Repository". …