New Orleans

Original 1861 Print of The City of New Orleans

This is a stunning print showing the City of New Orleans. The leaf was printed in 1861 and shows the city as it looked at the start of the Civil War.  There is a large amount of interesting historical content in this print.  The print contains six pictures from around the city.  The top image shows a sail boat, and is labeled, "The Crescent City".  The middle image is captioned, "The Levee", and shows a nice period view of a Mississippi Riverboat.  The lower left image is a picture of the French Quarter as it appeared at this time.  The two lower left images show Jackson Square and Lafayette Square.  This is a great print, but making it even more interesting is that surrounding the pictures is a fascinating story on New Orleans with a lot of really interesting details.  The print describes the French Quarter, and even calls out Bourbon Street, Royale Street, and many more streets by name, as well as describing the street lamps and buildings. The story says, "French is the language commonly spoken by both whites and blacks, though the patois of the latter would be hardly intelligible in Paris.  This excites the special wonder of their brethren from the more northern States." 

The story goes on to talk about the Mississippi River, and talks about Bales of Cotton on the docks, hogheads of sugar, and barrels of pork.  the story describes the climate and many other interesting details of New Orleans. 

This print would make a great gift for any Civil War Collector, and will become a cherished possession when framed and displayed in an office or study. This print has one small area of foxing on the top image, as can be seen in the picture above.

 h1861p196                 Price: $160

Original 1863 Print of The Riverboat "Imperial" at New Orleans

This is a really nice print showing the riverboat "Imperial".  The print is captioned, "The Opening of the Mississippi- Arrival of the Steamer Imperial at the New Orleans from St. Louis."  The prints shows a huge celebration on the docks in New Orleans.  People can be seen waving their hats and greeting the riverboat.  The crowd on the riverboat can be seen responding in kind.  Smoke can be seen billowing from the huge stacks on the boat, and the boat has a large flag waiving, with the word "Imperial" on it.  The above the image is a nice story describing the event. There is lots of important historical content in the story, including the following: "The imperial is an immense, showy vessel, one of the first class river steamers . . . But is was not her size or fine equipment which impressed the eager multitudes who thronged to see her, it was the fact that she was the first freight boat which had ventured down the Mississippi since the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson; and everyone who gazed upon her proud form saw in her the embodiment of reawakened commerce with the Mississippi Valley."  Lots more great details in the story. 

h1863p501                 Price: $165