[American Express Train]

Book Description

[New York: Currier & Ives, 1864]. Lithograph, coloured by hand. Cut to the edge of the image. Visible image size: 17 1/4 x 27 inches. Matted, framed and glazed. One of Currier & Ives greatest images, an emblem of the great westward push and the realisation of the American Dream 'A passenger train moves forward, diagonally, toward the lower right corner of the print. Thick black smoke billows out the smokestack. There is a river with a riverboat and ... [three] sailboats in the right background' (Gale). The same image was also issued as Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad. (Gale 0319) - issued in 1864 according to Gale, but probably not issued until about 1870 when the A. M. & O. was formed. The link to A. M. & O. perhaps suggest that the view is imtended to represent a section of track beside the river Mississippi. Conningham Currier & Ives Prints 0130; Gale Currier & Ives: A Catalogue Raisonné 0143

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