Current Exhibition:

The Grand Tour and Development of Tourism, 1600 to 1900
October 4, 2011 - April 28, 2012

Curator: Yolanda Theunissen, University of Southern Maine

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The Launching Print, J. W. Hill, Portland, ME

(click on image to view in greater detail)

J. W. Hill Portland, ME New York: Smith Brothers Co., 1855 Charles Parsons Lithography, New York Printed by Endicott and Co., New York Lithograph, 66 x 101 cm Private Collection

The Launching Print, J. W. Hill, Portland, ME

The 1855 Hill view is perhaps the best known topographic view of the city. It shows in extraordinarily precise detail the city's halcyon days before the Civil War and the Great Fire. The view was first published as a lithograph by the Smith Brothers based on a painting, now lost, by J. W. Hill. Referred to as "The Launching Print" by local historians because of the foreground vessel on the ways, it also served as the source for a series of prints by other publishers who felt free to copy and adapt the image during this pre-copyright period [see #95-100].