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Rare Amos Doolittle Engraved Time Line Combining American and Ecclesiastical History

Fascinating early American broadside, celebrating the divine combination of American and Biblical History.

Timeline chart of the history of Christianity, with tree-like column at center (representing the schisms of the Church), and images of Adam and Eve and Solomon's Temple at top. The map also includes a timeline of world and national history to the right, including George Washington's birthday and the founding of Yale College.  

The American history portion begins with the discoveries of America by Columbus, Vespucci and Cabot.  Leaping ahead to the 17th Century, the settlement of Virginia, New York, New Jersey, New England, Pennsylvania and other colonies are noted, as is Penn's charter.  In the 18th Century, Washington's birth and the continued colonial settlements are noted, as is the American Revolution, Lexington, Bunker Hill, American Independence, Peace, the Constitution and the French Revolution.

The timeline was created by David Sherman Rowland (1719-1794), a minister of the First (Congregational) Church in Windsor, Connecticut, with a colorful past who was forced to flee his ministry in Providence Rhode Island "because of his inflammatory exhortations on freedom and taxation.”  Publication of the timeline chart - executed by the Connecticut engraver Amos Doolittle - was arranged by his sons, William F. Rowland (1761-1843) and Henry A. Rowland (1764-1835).  The time line was advertised in the New-Hampshire Gazette for June 17, 1800 and later in the Courier of New Hampshire for July 5, 1800, which described a run of 500 copies, available by subscription of $2.00 per copy.

"The central stream of Christianity becomes murky with 'the dark shades of error' during the Middle Ages, with only a thin, clear channel of dissent running through. During the Protestant Reformation, several dissenting channels separate from and then rejoin the mainstream of Christianity" (Rosenberg & Graton, Cartographies of Time, page 148).

Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) was a noted early American engraver based  in New Haven. His career spanned seven decades and yielded hundreds of portraits, views, bank notes, book illustrations and maps, but he is best known for his historical prints, most famously his suite of engravings of the battles at Lexington and Concord. Also worth mentioning are his signature charts titled Display of the United States of America, the first of which incorporated a portrait of George Washington.

Rarity

The broadside is quite rare on the market.