[ca. 1870]. · Boston
by [Steam Engines]: [Brown, William Henry, artist]
Boston: Antique Publishing Co., [ca. 1870].. Lithographic print, 12 x 20 inches. Old creases. Several small tears repaired with tape on verso, chip in lower margin. Corners dampstained. Good. A scarce and unusual lithograph published by the Antique Publishing Company in Boston, mistakenly celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the "first Steam Railroad Passenger Excursion Train in America." The print, which features a large image of an early steam train after a silhouette by noted artist William Henry Brown, claims that the English engine "John Bull" was run by the Mowhawk & Hudson Railroad Company as the first steam passenger train in 1831, with fifteen passengers in two coaches. The story told by the print, cited by numerous books and articles over the years, is in fact almost entirely wrong: the Mohawk & Hudson ran one of the earliest steam railroad passenger excursions, but not the first. Their engine was named the "DeWitt Clinton," which is clearly the engine pictured in the lithograph - not the famous English steam train. The train had six carriages and carried close to eighty passengers on its first voyage. The DeWitt Clinton took passengers from Albany to Schenectady, bypassing the lengthy process of navigating the locks through the Erie Canal. The original artist, William H. Brown, was a railroad employee and history buff himself, and wrote a brief paper about the mistaken print that was discussed by the American Institute in 1873:
"The train consisted of six passenger cars; only the two first were represented in Mr. Brown's picture, which was cut out of black paper with a pair of scissors, a peculiar art possessed by Mr. Brown in an eminent degree. The original picture...Mr. Brown presented to the Historical Society at Hartford, where it now is, and is highly valued for its antiquity. Some years ago this picture was photographed and lithographed by the Boston Antique Publishing Co., and thousands of copies sold all over the country. Not knowing the true history of Mr. Brown's original sketch...it has been called the English Locomotive, John Bull, and represented as the first locomotive run in America, and thus the whole community have been deceived."
This print exists in several states: with and without "Excursion" in the title, with and without a printed border, and with and without additional printed text on the verso. This is the state with printed border, "Excursion" in the title, and no text on the verso. In any event, all states are scarce - we locate copies of each state at the Library of Congress, a copy of the present state at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a copy without "Excursion" at Villanova, a copy with printed verso at Harvard's Artemas Ward House, and unspecified states at the Peabody Essex Museum, Boston Public Library, and New York Historical Society. An uncommon print with a curiously long legacy of misinformation in railroad literature. DOCUMENTS OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. NINETY-SEVENTH SESSION - 1874. Volume XI. - No. 153 (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company), pp.324-325. (Inventory #: WRCAM57389)
"The train consisted of six passenger cars; only the two first were represented in Mr. Brown's picture, which was cut out of black paper with a pair of scissors, a peculiar art possessed by Mr. Brown in an eminent degree. The original picture...Mr. Brown presented to the Historical Society at Hartford, where it now is, and is highly valued for its antiquity. Some years ago this picture was photographed and lithographed by the Boston Antique Publishing Co., and thousands of copies sold all over the country. Not knowing the true history of Mr. Brown's original sketch...it has been called the English Locomotive, John Bull, and represented as the first locomotive run in America, and thus the whole community have been deceived."
This print exists in several states: with and without "Excursion" in the title, with and without a printed border, and with and without additional printed text on the verso. This is the state with printed border, "Excursion" in the title, and no text on the verso. In any event, all states are scarce - we locate copies of each state at the Library of Congress, a copy of the present state at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a copy without "Excursion" at Villanova, a copy with printed verso at Harvard's Artemas Ward House, and unspecified states at the Peabody Essex Museum, Boston Public Library, and New York Historical Society. An uncommon print with a curiously long legacy of misinformation in railroad literature. DOCUMENTS OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. NINETY-SEVENTH SESSION - 1874. Volume XI. - No. 153 (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company), pp.324-325. (Inventory #: WRCAM57389)