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Colonial WOODBLOCK Printing Plates, c. 1717-58

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:2,400.00 - 3,200.00 USD
Colonial WOODBLOCK Printing Plates, c. 1717-58
Colonial America
Colonial Woodblock Printing Plates by William Bradford & Others
c. 1717-1758, Lot of 3 Separate Woodblock Printing Plates of Astronomical Images, by William Bradford & Other Colonial Publishers, average of Very Fine.
These woodblock printing plates depict astronomical events, and served as illustrations for almanacs of the period, as indicated by Elizabeth Reilly in “Colonial American Printers’ Ornaments & Illustrations” (1975). Each of these woodblocks were used to create illustrations similar to those reproduced in Reilly’s book--the original colonial prints, almanacs or pamphlets are housed at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester.

1. “Half-Eclipse With a Smiling Human Face” inscribed on it. Reilly’s #1921, p. 474: by Andrew, Cornelia, and William Bradford, 1716; 1745; 1717. According to Reilly, the various years reflect copies of similar prints housed in museum collections and archives. The woodblock measures 1.75” square, 1” thick, with dark inked surface patina, age cracking along the face.

2. “Large Crescent With Partial Eclipse” along the lower portion. Reilly’s #1952, p. 478: by Christopher Sower, Germantown, 1758. It measures 1/2” square, 3/4” thick, with dark inked surface patina.

3. “Full Eclipse” with a thin white edge along the outside border. Reilly’s #1961, p. 479: by John Draper, Boston, 1756. It measures 1.25” square, 3/4” thick, with dark inked surface patina.

Ex-Sotheby’s Sale 7683, June 26, 2001. (3 items)
William Bradford (1663–1752) was a British pioneer printer in the American colonies who emigrated to Philadelphia and set up the first press in 1685. In 1690 he was a founder of the first paper mill in the colonies. Bradford moved to New York City (c. 1693) where he became royal printer and issued some 400 items over the next 50 years, including the first American Book of Common Prayer (1710), some of the earliest American almanacs and many pamphlets and political writings. In 1725 he founded the New York Gazette, the first New York newspaper. Many of his descendants, including Andrew Bradford and William Bradford, became printers.

Christopher Sower or Sauer, (1693–1758), was born in Germany and came to America in 1724. In 1738 he founded a printing shop in Germantown, Pa., using types imported from Germany. In 1738 he printed the first German book in America. In the same year he established the first German periodical in America, at first a quarterly, later a monthly. In 1743 he printed a German Bible, the second Bible printed in America (the first was the Bible translated into “the Indian Language” in 1663 by John Eliot).

John Draper published the Boston Weekly-Newsletter from 1733 to 1762, when he transferred the paper to his son Richard Draper, who renamed it the Massachusetts Gazette and published it until 1774.