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Extraordinary Vermont 1823 Colored Engraving in Remarkable Condition

 

(JUDAICA.). PEABODY, M.M. (Engraver). "The Unjust Sentence of the Jews against Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World." [Caption title]. . Colored & stippled engraving, 38" x 23.5", on paper mounted on canvas, with wooden rollers (done in wall-map fashion). Absolutely original in splendid condition, with five tiny holes, two of them slightly larger than pin pricks, all seen only when held up to the light. A remarkable survival, without blemish, the colors bright & clear. $2,000.00

 

Stauffer, American Engravers on Copper and Steel, Vol. I, p. 201 & Stauffer 2422: "The earliest plate by this engraver seen by the compiler is a very large and very crudely [not so] executed engraving of 'The Unjust Sentence of the Jews...' This print was engraved and published in 1823, without noting the place of publication; but in 1835 M. M. Peabody was located in Utica, N.Y...." Engraved in two plates, as noted by Stauffer. Printed in one oval inset: "This drawing was found at Vienna in Germany. Buried in the earth, Cut upon a Stone." In another oval: "Engraved by M. M. Peabody, Dec. 15, 1823. Copyright secured according to act of Congress."

In fact, this is doubtless a Vermont imprint, possibly done in  Queechy (Hartford), Vermont. Cf. McCorison, Vermont Imprints, p. 525, the appendix, which lists Peabody as an engraver in Hartford from 1819-23. McCorison records three Peabody works by ca. 1820.

With about 25 figures in the main foreground of the Judgment Hall at Jerusalem, each with a tablet on which is expressed their views. A remarkable survival, done at a time of early American conversion societies. In the following year appeared S. H. Jackson's first Jewish "defense" publication, The Jew: Being a Defense of Judaism Against All Adversaries. A period of growing Jewish activism. By 1835 the Know-Nothing view was widespread. Cartage extra.