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METZEROTT'S VIEWS OF WASHINGTON. [cover title]

Washington, DC: W.G. Metzerott, nd [ca. 1860]. First edition. Oblong 12mo. 17 loose individual plates printed on glossy card stock, each 41/2 x 5 1/2 inches (one plate cropped across the top margin with no loss to image), laid into a gilt-stamped embossed green cloth folder; each engraved image appears in an oval surrounded by a decorative border, some including scenes from city life as marginal decorations. Printed title on pastedown: "Our National Buildings! Views of Washington." The images include the U.S. Capitol, Naval Monument, Mount Vernon, U.S. Navy Yard, Military Asylum, Columbia Armory, U.S. Treasury, Smithsonian Institute, Willard's Hotel, City Hall, Gen. Jackson's National Monument, The President's House, U.S. Patent Office, Tomb of Washington, U.S. General Post Office, Lunatic Asylum, and the Congressional Cemetery (cropped at top edge). OCLC locates four copies (George Washington, Smithsonian, Harvard, American Antiquarian Society), two with 16 plates (George Washington, Harvard), one with 18 (Smithsonian), and the AAS copy without a plate count in its online catalogue. Images bright with light soiling to margins, but very good overall. Gilt-stamped cloth folder (rubbed). (#6198). Item #57808

This copy contains an image of the Willard Hotel which was established in 1847; some of the edifices represented were under construction during the mid-1850s. W.G. Metzerott, a music and print publisher, had offices at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Eleventh Street, from about 1858 sharing space there with his relatives, the engravers Gustav and Robert Metzerott. Cf. American Antiquarian Society cataloguing for a discussion of dating the publication and attributing artistic responsibility through relevant city directories of the period.

Price: $600.00