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The First Large Scale View of Santa Barbara
Rare early two-stone lithographed view of Santa Barbara, drawn and published by E.S. Glover and printed in San Francisco by A.L. Bancroft & Co., lithographers.
Published in 1877, Glover's view of Santa Barbara is the earliest large-scale printed view of the city, pre-dated only by a much smaller view (16 x 9 inches) by A.E. Mathews in 1873.
In 1876 and '77, Glover and his wife lived in Los Angeles and Eli focused on views of California cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and others.
Rarity
The view is extremely rare on the market. Other than an example that we offered in 2019, the last example of the view we can locate is the Amon Carter Brown Museum example, which was offered for sale by Midland Books in 1967 (colorized).
Reps (388) locates examples in the Library of Congress, UC Berkeley Bancroft Library, California State Library, Santa Barbara Historical Society, Huntington Library, Amon Carter Brown Museum, and the Oakland Museum.
Appendix: Legend
- Santa Barbara College
- St. Vincent School
- Public School Buildings
- Old Mission School
- Episcopal Church
- Presbyterian Church
- Catholic Church
- Methodist Church
- Baptist Church
- Congregational Church
- Episcopal Church
- County Court House
- City Offices
- Theatre Building
- Arlington Hotel
- Occidental Hotel
- Morris House
- I.O.O.F. Hall and Library
- Santa Barbara Press Office
- Santa Barbara County Bank
- National Gold bank
- Mission Canyon
- Sycamore Canyon
- Hot Springs
- Oil District
- Quicksilver Mine
- Rockland Tract
Eli Sheldon Glover (1844-1920) was one of the great viewmakers of the golden age of American bird's eye views. He began his career working for Albert Ruger in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1866. He was primarily a sales agent for Ruger but probably also helped him in the actual production of city views. Two years later Glover went to Chicago to become a printer and publisher under his own name, but his Merchants Lithographing Company was shortlived; it was destroyed by the 1871 Chicago Fire after only three years of operation. The Great Fire caused Glover to look farther afield, and he began making views in Ontario and Kansas. Slowly he made his way west, producing Colorado views in 1873-'74. In 1874, while based in Salt Lake City he traveled the Rocky Mountains and produced views in Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. In 1876 and '77, the Glovers lived in Los Angeles and Eli produced a total of 16 views of California cities. In the last period of his active career, he focused on views in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. His second to last view was in Alabama, and his final view, in 1912 after a long hiatus, was Port Arthur, Texas.
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