Currier & Ives WINTER IN THE COUNTRY COLD MORNING print

Currier and Ives
   Vintage 1979 portfolio book print, Copyright by Cross River Press, Ltd.,   Printed in Japan

This is a beautiful vintage print of a 19th century Currier & Ives lithograph in extraordinarily vivid detail.  With prints of such high quality, these classic American scenes can now be enjoyed at a fraction of the going price for the original prints. This poster-quality book print has been extracted from a 1979 Currier & Ives portfolio collection. It  is one of many of our prints which can be framed with or without matting.  Because of its wide margins, this print fits perfectly in an 11 x 14 inch frame with no matting required, while attractively displaying the title and date originally painted. The backside of the print may have unrelated text or another wonderful illustration from the collection, which does not show through the other side because of the thickness and quality of the paper. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.  

A century ago Currier & Ives prints captured an America in mid-passage - it's way of life, news events, customs, methods of travel, its romantic history, even its fashion and humor. The firm of "Currier & Ives" was a New York printmaking firm from 1857 until 1907. Nathaniel Currier was a printmaker and James Ives started as the firm's bookkeeper, and in 1857, became Currier's partner. Neither man was an artist. The prints were drawn and lithographed by other persons. Nathaniel Currier died in 1888 and James Ives died in 1895. The firm carried on until 1907 under the direction of their sons, Edward West Currier and Chauncey Ives. The business of the firm was to produce lithographed prints which were intended to be sold to the general public for picture framing and display in the home or business place. For nearly seventy-five years, the firm provided "Colored Engravings for the People," and called themselves "Printmakers to the People." Currier and Ives gave America a nineteenth-century pictorial history of the country's growth from an agricultural society to an industrialized one. Many newsworthy events were recorded with prints depicting every subject relating to American life: religion, politics, historical figures, views of homes, rural homesteads, sports, music, entertainment, games, life in the home, children, wildlife, hunting, fishing, railroad trains, ships, and many more. Many of the artists that Currier & Ives used are unknown today, and many are more famous artists such as J. E. Butterworth, George H. Durrie, Louis Maurer, Frances or "Fanny" Flora Bond Palmer, Charles Parsons, Napoleon Sarony, and Thomas Worth. Currier & Ives' prints were sold either directly from Currier & Ives' shop in New York or through other printsellers around the United States and overseas. Other printsellers were always eager to carry the latest images because of the quality and variety of Currier & Ives prints. The number of recorded Currier & Ives prints is now over 7,500 different titles, although new titles turn up occasionally all carefully recorded by the American Historical Print Collectors Society in order to maintain a current listing of Currier & Ives prints. They can be found on the internet. Most Currier & Ives prints were hand-colored lithographs, but Currier & Ives also issued some uncolored prints and also chromolithographs. The smaller folio prints which are approximately 8" x 12 1/2" originally sold for about 20 cents each and the medium folio, approximately 10-14" x 14-20" and large folio consisting of prints about 14" x 20," sold for between $1 and $3. It's easy to see why once, these handsome prints graced many American homes. We even occasionally see them on the walls of homes depicted in many older movies. Today they can rarely be seen, except in a few private collections and museums. The most valuable Currier & Ives prints are what are called "Best 50" prints which were judged to be the best, as a result of a study sponsored by the American Historical Print Collectors Society, but collectors should not limit themselves to these prints. It is always desirable to acquire at least one of the "Best 50" prints. Offered among our vintage portfolio book plates and lithographs are Currier and Ives prints for everyone, done by artists such as Louis Maurer, Thomas Worth, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, Fanny Palmer, George Henry Durrie, Charles Parsons. There are prints of political cartoons, banners, portraits, historical prints, certificates, moral and religious prints, sentimental prints, prints for children, pioneer home scenes, humor, lithographed sheet music and much more.

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