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Early Lithograph By Nathaniel Currier with Chinese Characters
Fascinating map of China and contiguous regions, published by John P. Haven in New York.
The map covers China, Korea and Russian Tartary north to Sakhalin, with Mongolia, Tibet and the trade routes to the Caspian Sea. Unusually the map also uses Chinese characters and has a key of Chinese geological terms.
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (1803-51) was the first Lutheran missionary to China, before becoming an interpreter for Jardine Matheson & Co, helping their ships smuggle opium, and the British Plenipotentiary in negotiations during the First Opium War of 1839-42. He was appointed the first assistant Chinese Secretary of the new colony of Hong Kong in 1842 and was promoted to Chinese Secretary in August of the following year.
Remarkable yet controversial, the Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803-51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he sailed to Siam and worked on translating the Bible into Thai. The British missionary Robert Morrison had stimulated his interest in China, and Gutzlaff later focused his evangelizing efforts there, learning several dialects and distributing translated literature. He also worked for the East India Company, notably serving as an interpreter during negotiations for the Treaty of Nanking.
The map was lithographed by Stodart & Currier. This is the earliest of Nathaniel Currier's 3 partnerships, which would culminate with the famed firm of Currier & Ives.
William Adam Stodart was the son (or possibly nephew) of English piano maker Robert Stodart.
William Stodart is first listed as a music store owner in Richmond, Virginia in 1818 where he sold music publications of New York’s William Dubois. In 1819, he moved to New York City as Adam Stodart and began importing and selling instruments built by his relatives in London.
In 1822, Stodart entered partnership with William Dubois, establishing the firm of “Dubois & Stodart”. Dubois & Stodart operated a successful music store and small piano manufactory until the partnership was dissolved in 1834.
In 1834, Stodart joined Nathaniel Currier in the lithography business, producing sheet music under the firm of “Stodart & Currier”. This partnership was short-lived and was dissolved in 1836. Only small number of prints bear the name Stodard & Currier.
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