Westminster Abbey Hospital c1842
SHOTTER BOYS, Thomas (1803-1874) Westminster Abbey Hospital
[London: T. Boys, 1842]. Original Hand-coloured lithograph by Shotter Boys, printed by Charles Hullmandel. Good condition apart from some light soiling. Image size (including text): 12.75 x 17.5 inches. This print from the rare 'delux' edition mounted on thick card. Now framed within a triple line and wash coloured band mount and featured gold gilt frame. Approx External Frame Size: 24.5" x 29.5" (620mm x 750).
A very fine image from Boys' 'London As It Is': a work 'of considerable importance' (Abbey). Drawn from Nature expressly for this Work and Lithographed by Thomas Shotter Boys. Exhibiting its principle Streets and Characteristic Accessories, Public Buildings in Connexion with the Leading Thoroughfares etc etc. London: Published by Thomas Boys, Print seller to the Royal Family, 11 Golden Square, Regent Street.
Abbey writes of the work London As It Is from which this beautiful image comes: apart "from the beauty of its plates, it records London at a period when good pictorial records were few. The London of the 1840's is probably more difficult to reconstruct than at any other period in the nineteenth century" (Abbey Life 239). High production costs and changing fashion caused aquatint to die out, photography was still in an experimental stage, and chromolithography did not appear until 1850. Boys' work was issued with the plates hand-coloured mounted in imitation of watercolours, with no imprint, or as here, with the plates tinted and hand-coloured, including Boys' name at the foot.
A Genuine antique print over 170 years old from Rare Maps and Prints.