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A Virtually Unknown New Havcn Birdseye View

Unrecorded early view of New Haven Connecticut, with 8 fine surrounding vignettes.

The view shows a fine image of New Haven from the southeast (?), with Tomlinson's Bridge near the center and Union or Long Wharf at the far left.

The town stretches out along the East River and harbor, with a number of early manufacturers along the waterfront, small watercraft, row boats spread across the water and two paddlewheelers shown toward the left (one docked near Tomlinson's Bridge).

The surrounding vignettes include:

• West Rock
• Public Square
• Yale College
• East Rock
• Bran Ford, Point House
• Whitney Waterworks (constructed between 1860 and 1862)
• Lighthouse Point (with new lighthouse, built in 1847)
• Savin Rock House (built in 1838)

Curiously, the image is unsigned, with no printer or publisher information given, although as noted below, it would seem almost certainly to be the the same or similar images as described in two very old catalog entries described below.

Whitney Waterworks

We date the view based upon its early depiction of the Whitneyville waterworks.  Very little information exists regarding the "Whitneyville Waterworks", which we assume was a public works project contracted for by Eli Whitney Jr. in 1857 and completed in 1862.  We were able to locate the following holding at the Library of Congress:

26. Site plan of Lake Whitney; detail of original engineering drawing, 1856 Photocopied from map drawn and surveyed by Nelson J. Welton, C.E., 'Contemplated Waterworks at Whitneyville, 1856,' unaccessioned New Haven Water Company Papers, collection of NHCHSL. Shows 'Whitney's Upper Armory,' 'Clock Shop,' 'E. Whitney's Lower Armory.' - Eli Whitney Armory, West of Whitney Avenue, Armory Street Vicinity, Hamden, New Haven County, CT

Rarity / Largely Unknown View

The view is apparently not recorded in any standard bibliography, nor can we find it in any on line or other reference.

We note the following 1928 Anderson Galleries listing in The Print Collection of Norman James, Baltimore, MD, The Finest Collection of Currier & Ives Lithographs Ever Offered At Public Sale " A Fine Group of American Views . . . , Anderson Galleries, November 14-16, 1928.

328.  NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

Colored Lithograph. Unsigned. Showing vignettes on top and bottom of West Rock, Public Square, Yale College, East Rock, Savin Rock House, Lighthouse Point, Whitneyville Waterworks and Bran  Ford Point House. Large folio, slight repairs on margins. 
 

While seemingly the same view as the one we offer here, we also note a similar view referenced by Reps, known only in a 1963 Old Print Shop catalog listing, which Reps describes in Views and Viewmakers of Urban America (#583). In that description, he references an untitled view of New Haven, with 8 views, which appeared in Old Print Shop Portfolio, XXIII, p. 87, No 22 (circa 1963), which is illustrated in the catalog.  However, the main New Haven image in the Old Print Shop view is from a slightly different perspective and is very obviously a different lithographic stone. 

As such, for the moment, we must assume that the present view is a unique or extremely rare unrecorded survival.