Anthony Imbert lithographs
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Thirty-five prints by the French-American lithographer Anthony Imbert after drawings by the artists Alexander Jackson Davis, Dominico Canova, Gherlando Marsiglia, and Antonio Meucci. Along with views of locations in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and upstate New York, the collection includes a number of Manhattan scenes produced as plates for Cadwallader Colden's Memoir prepared at the request of the Common Council of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals (New York: W. A. Davis, 1825), and for Davis's Views of The Public Buildings in the City of New-York [1826–1828]. Also present are several portraits, and one of the earliest pieces of sheet music lithographed in New York.
Biographical / Historical
Lithographer Anthony Imbert (1794 or 1795–1834) was born in France and came to the United States in 1824 or 1825. Imbert immediately opened a lithographic firm, and very quickly became the premier lithographer in New York City. He printed images by artists such as Alexander Jackson Davis, Dominico Canova, Gherlando Marsiglia, and Antonio Meucci. Under the name "Imbert's Lithography," Imbert produced lithographed views of buildings in New York City, several views of Niagara Falls and New York State, portraits of eminent men, drawing books, and cartoons and caricatures.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in nine categories:
- Plates from Cadwallader Colden, Memoir prepared at the request of the Common Council of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals, 1825
- Plates from Views of The Public Buildings in the City of New-York, [1826–1828]
- Other views of Manhattan, undated
- Views of Brooklyn, undated
- Views of The Bronx, undated
- Views of New York State, 1829, circa 1835, undated
- Portraits, [1830–1831], undated
- Sheet music, [1823–1826]
- Miscellaneous, circa 1826, 1829–1835, undated
Scope and Contents
The collection contains plates from Cadwallader Colden's Memoir prepared at the request of the Common Council of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals (New York: W. A. Davis, 1825), a book which was published to celebrate the opening of the Erie Canal and was the first monumental book with lithographic plates. Several of these plates are views of local fire companies. Also included are many views of New York City buildings; some drawn by A. J. Davis in 1827–1828 and published as Views of The Public Buildings in the City of New-York [1826–1828]. A broadside with an illustration of the American Hotel is also included. Views of buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx are included, as are two lithographs of Niagara Falls. A piece of sheet music, one of the earliest to be lithographed in New York, is also part of the collection.
Subjects
Genres
People
Places
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org.
Use Restrictions
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Anthony Imbert Lithographs, PR-225, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection is comprised of gifts from multiple donors.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Jenny Gotwals processed this collection in March 2003. Joseph Ditta migrated and expanded her WORD-document finding aid to ArchivesSpace in June 2020.