DESCRIPTION:
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Small etching depicting a British ship-yard worker with a caulking hammer at work pounding pegs into the hull of a wooden vessel. Titled "The Shipwright" this 200+ year old work is from "The Book of Trades, or Library of the Useful Arts"; Part 1. Published by Tabart & Co. London 1804. Matted with archival materials. Overall size with the mat is about 8"x10".
The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1804
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United Kingdom
BODY OF WATER: N/A
CONDITION: Fair
No holes tears or stains. Slightly stained.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Unknown
SIZE: 2
" x
4 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $
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