[Köllner, Augustus]:

$6,750 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

COMMON SIGHTS IN TOWN & COUNTRY. DELINEATED & DESCRIBED FOR YOUNG CHILDREN [wrapper title]. William Reese's copy of this rare American juvenile instruction book, illustrated with a dozen charming and accomplished lithographic plates. The book was published at the behest of the American Sunday-School Union, and the text and illustrations are clearly meant to offer advice on living a proper life. This is the first state of the work, with the Sunday-School Union's address given as 146 Chesnut Street on every leaf. The lessons and scenes demonstrate the virtues of industry, economy, thrift, courtesy, and sobriety, as well as the sins of gossip, being inconsiderate, and succumbing to temptations of the flesh.The artist and lithographer, Augustus Köllner, was born in Frankfurt and studied lithography in Dusseldorf before emigrating to the United States and setting up a shop in Philadelphia. Beginning his career in the city as a portrait painter, Köllner soon found that his skills in lithography were much more profitable, working over the years for a variety of firms illustrating everything from children's books to viewbooks, maps, bank notes, and advertisements. Though over fifty years old, he enlisted in a cavalry company during the Civil War, making etchings in the field which he reproduced and sold after his return home. Peters calls Köllner "a brilliant lithographer...[with] an alert sense of interesting details in the American scene." Peters goes on to state that Köllner's wor

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