American Revolution
Rare Superb 1903 Sidney L. Smith Re-engraved for Charles Goodspeed, Boston Engraving titled: "Plate II A View of the Town of Concord" After Doolittle - No. 32 of 75 Printed
[1775], Engraving titled "Plate II A View of the Town of Concord", After the Engraving by Amos Doolittle, Published by Charles Goodspeed, Boston, 1903 - Re-engraved by Sidney L. Smith." Framed, Choice Near Mint.
Number 36 of 75 by Sidney Lawton Smith (American, 1845"1929), after which the engraved plate was destroyed. Engraved Print measuring about 17.5" x 22.25" (by sight), beautifully professionally framed to about 21.25" x 26" under UV Plexiglas. This superb quality, sharply printed Engraving shows Lt. Col. Smith and his second in command surveying the terrain from the Concord graveyard. The 700 or so British troops they commanded are lined up through the center of town and"at the same time"they are shown throwing American military stores into the millpond in the background. The Battle of Concord proved pivotal for the upcoming War of Independence. Text below image reads; "1. Companies of the Regulars marching into Concord. / 2. Companies of Regulars drawn up in order. / 3.A Detaichment [sic] destroying the Provincial Stores. / 4. & 5. Colonel Smith & Major Pitcarin viewing the Provincials / who were mustering on an East Hill in Concord. / 6. The Townhouse. / 7. The Meetinghouse." Round stamp at lower left reads, "No 36 of an edition of seventyfive only and the plate destroyed". See: JOURNAL ARTICLE, "The Doolittle Engravings of the Battle of Lexington and Concord" by Ian M. G. Quimby, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 4 (1968), pp. 83-108 (26 pages), Published By: The University of Chicago Press.
Provenance: Collection of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II.
Sidney Lawton Smith (1845"1929) was an American designer, etcher, engraver, illustrator, and bookplate artist. Smith was born in Foxborough, Massachusetts to Lawton and Lucy Thompson Smith on June 15, 1845. He was the third of three sons. In 1847, his family moved to Canton, Massachusetts, where he was educated in the public school system.
Smith showed an interest and aptitude in artistic efforts from a young age, and in 1863, his parents sent him to apprentice to Reuben Carpenter in Boston to learn steel engraving. Although his mother admonished him to stay in his apprenticeship, in 1864 Smith enlisted with the Union Army and saw active service at the end of the Civil War.
In 1865, Smith returned to Carpenter's engraving shop, but moved on to the shop of Joseph Andrews in 1867. There, he worked on reproductions of the original etchings and woodcuts that had been issued in England with an edition of Dickens's works.
Smith began his own engraving establishment in Canton, Massachusetts. He worked on government notes for the American Bank Note Company and on book illustrations for the publisher Riverside Press. In 1877, Smith became an assistant to John LaFarge in the decoration of Trinity Church in Boston. He continued to work with LaFarge on stained glass work and decorative projects that came through LaFarge's studio in New York, until 1887.
In 1893, Smith moved his family and business to Boston. During this period, Smith worked primarily as an etcher and engraver, and a designer of bookplates. Smith's bookplate clients included notable book and engravings collectors, college and public libraries, historical and research societies, publishing houses, bookstores, and collector's clubs.
Smith died in 1929. The American Antiquarian Society holds his papers and other materials, including several bookplate drawings and engravings, copper bookplates, photographs, and his engraving tools.