Feb 26, 2013 - Sale 2304

Sale 2304 - Lot 15

Price Realized: $ 10,800
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
BEAL, JOSHUA H. (active 1860s-1870s)
"Beal's Photographic View of New York." Remarkable 3-part panorama from the Brooklyn Bridge Tower depicting Lower Manhattan. Albumen prints, overall size 9 1/2x41 inches (24.1x104.1 cm.), flush mounted. 1876
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Additional Details

Originally in the collection of John Daniel Crimmins (1844-1917), who was the former Commissioner of Public Parks and a partner in the Crimmins Construction Co.; by descent to a family member.

Beal's view of New York City was shot in January 1876, after the photographer wrestled his heavy camera equipment, glass plate negatives, and tripod up the tower's thirty flights of stairs. He exposed five negatives to create a composite photograph. This example contains three of the images, which provided a sweeping panorama of lower Manhattan's landmarks, including Trinity Church and the nine-story headquarters of the New York Tribune, in addition to commercial activity along the East River.

Dominating the scene is the massive New York Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was completed in 1883. Commercial signage along the sides of buildings may be seen, including "Harper's," "American Rubber Maint.," "Abel Bros. Iron," "Judd Storage," "Van Dyke's Hotel," "United States Bonded Warehouse," "Ferry from Roosevelt SINY," as well as Beal's enhanced handwritten caption information, "Clyde's Line from Phila."
New York, An Illustrated History, 170-171 (detail).