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The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd.Natural History


Antique Prints of Food


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Among our most popular prints are those illustrating edible items, including prepared dishes, spices, herbs, desserts, vegetables, and all other sorts of food. Many of the earliest images came from herbals and botanical series, but by the nineteenth century, original prints began to appear in cook books and as separate prints. Below is a selection of food prints from our inventory. We have other similar prints inventory, so if you have favorite foods not listed here please feel free to contact us to see if we have any prints showing them.


Haskell & Allen: American Prize Fruit No. 2
Anon. "American Prize Fruit. No. 2." Boston: Haskell & Allen, ca. 1871-75. Large folio. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.

A stunning, large folio American fruit still-life from the popular Boston lithographic firm of Haskell & Allen. This firm was one of the more successful popular prints publishers that thrived in the mid-nineteenth century. The most famous of this sort of firm was Currier & Ives, but there were quite a number of smaller businesses that issued lovely 'prints for the masses.' This print, rare both because of its size and the small output of Haskell & Allen, is particularly desirable as representing one of the few fruit still-life images available in antique prints. Most antique fruit prints were scientific studies, in contrast to this impressive decorative image. This print was issued to grace an American Victorian home, as it would grace any home today. $1,650



Besler peppers
Basil Besler. [Peppers.] From Hortus Eystettensis. Eicstatt, [1613]. 19 x 16. Engraving with hand coloring. Very good condition.

A superbly decorative botanical print from Basil Besler's seventeenth century herbal. Besler's monumental florilegia invites the use of superlatives when describing it. It was the most comprehensive as well as the largest early work of its kind. It is also one of the most delightfully drawn and visually impressive ever made, as is well evidenced by these wonderful engravings. $3,200
GoGo to listing of other prints by Besler



Sweert grapes, etc.
Emanuel Sweert. [Grapes, Rosemary, Balsam, Hibiscus.] From Florilegium. Frankfurt-am-Main: Anthony Kempner, 1612. 13 3/8 x 8. Engraving. Full hand color. Very good condition.

"One of the first and most famous . . . of the florilegiums was published in Germany in 1612 by the Dutchman Emmanuel [sic] Sweert. It has no text other than a catalogue of the 'illustrated plants' in Latin, German, French and English." [Lys de Bray: The Art of Botanical Illustration, p. 47] "The work served as both a picture-book of plants and a sale catalogue, for although no information was given as to the prices of the plants, the reader was informed that they could be purchased during the Frankfurt-am-Main Fair at the author's shop opposite the Römer, and subsequently in Amsterdam." [Blunt and Stearn: The Art of Botanical Illustration, p. 104] This is a fine example of this work (of which we have many others, though not food related, in inventory). $900



A pair of magnificent market mezzotints

The LarderSpacerGame Market

This wonderful pair of market prints are from a series showing paintings which belonged to Robert Walpole (1676-1745), the first Prime Minister of Britain. In 1779 a descendant sold the collection to Catherine the Great of Russia. The prominent print publisher, John Boydell, decided that the only way to save the images for Great Britain was to have the best engravers make mezzotints depicting Walpole's famous Gallery at Houghton. Due to Catherine's purchase, most of the original paintings from the Houghton Gallery are today in the Hermitage. These prints were mezzotinted by Richard Earlom, the leading craftsman of the day whose mezzotints are amongst the finest ever produced.



AtelettesSpacer Modern Ball BuffetSpacer Artistic Supper Dishes No. 1

Prints from Theodore Francis Garrett's The Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. New York: J. Arnot Penman and Philadelphia: Hudson Importing Company, ca. 1893. Ca. 8 1/2 x 6 1/2. Chromolithographs. Very good condition.

Deliciously detailed images of elaborate confections, savory dishes, table settings, etc. prepared for Garrett's eight volume Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. Entries in the encyclopedia include descriptions of foodstuffs and their etymological and biological origins, recipes, methods of cooking and food preparation, cookware, utensils and their uses, and other practical definitions useful to the cook, chef, gourmet and gourmand. These wonderful chromolithgraphs were intended to illustrate the text and stimulate an interest in preparing the dishes. The marvelous excess in presentation is a trademark of late Victorian period styles and tastes, which one appreciates just as much a century later. These are mouth-watering images of remarkable feasts from the past.

Monochrome images from the series. Please contact us for images of those not already illustrated.
Portraits of chefs:



Le Livre De Cuisine Drawn by Ronjat. France, ca. 1880-1890. Chromolithographs by Regamey. Ca. 5 x 7. Very good condition.

A series of bold and colorful prints of fancy dishes issued in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Similar to series above, just smaller.

Tete De Veau
Tete De Veau $75
Viande De Boeuf
Viande De Boeuf $85
Viande De Veau et De Mouton
Veau et Mouton $75



Graphic: School of Cookery, International Exhibition
"The School of Cookery at the International Exhibition." London: The Graphic, April 26, 1873. 8 7/8 x 11 7/8. Wood engraving. Very good condition.

Many events and subjects from the nineteenth century did not warrant the production of separately issued prints nor of published photographs. However, printed images of these events and subjects are, thankfully, available to us through the medium of the illustrated newspaper. These newspapers, usually issued weekly in England and the America, were made possible by the development of woodengraving as a practical method of print making. These publications, filled with current text and a multitude of illustrations, became extremely popular from their first appearance with the Illustrated London News in 1842. This paper was followed in England by The Graphic in 1869. This source provides us with many images of all parts of the world in the nineteenth century, most of which would not exist without these papers. This is a fine example of the output of one of the two most successful papers in England. $55



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©The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. Last updated February 20, 2008