- Title: Sydney in 1888
-
Author: Gibbs, Shallard & Co., A.C. Cooke
- Date: 1888
- Medium: Wood engraving
- Condition: Very Good Plus - age toning, areas of surface dirt, light wear along issued folding
- Inches: 38 1/2 x 26 7/8 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 97.79 x 68.26 [Paper]
- Product ID: 366591
Very Rare and Highly Detailed Birds Eye View of a Booming Sydney, Australia
Designed and executed to promote the city to a global audience in its centenary year, clearly intended to be a point of pride for the citizens of the magnificent city of Sydney Australia. Published as a supplement to the Illustrated Sydney News in a Special European edition. Delightful rendering of a bustling city centered on the harbor. Showing clipper ships, steamers, paddle wheelers, tugboats and pleasure craft in the harbor. The city’s considerable expanse shown in lively detail, huge rail yards, dozens of factories, hundreds of wharves and docks all indicative of the commercial might of Australia near the end of the nineteenth century.
In January 1888 celebrations were held across the Australian colonies to mark the centenary of European settlement. In Sydney, along with parades, fireworks, banquets, and a host of special events, 50,000 people watched the governor, Lord Carrington, unveil a statue in honor of Queen Victoria, and Centennial Park was officially opened as ‘the people’s park’ before a crowd of over 175,000.
Rare: We find two copies in OCLC, one in the State Library of New South Wales, one in the National Library of Australia. Not in Library of Congress, no known North American Institutional Copies. The authors request the favor of any information regarding additional copies.
Condition: Woodblock print, with multiple blocks engraved to create the composition. Reinforced at old folds with minimal loss, just a smidge of skillful paper reinstatement and facsimile to center left horizontal fold. Backed with archival tissue. In all a splendid example of a tough to find view of Sydney.
As with all Antiquarium offerings, numerous framing options are available. Please let us know if you would like a custom framing consultation. Our Master Certified Picture Framers have delighted thousands of clients since 1990.