As a nod to the current international sporting event taking place in Paris, France, our current object of the month is a print of a Paris cityscape, produced in 1866. The print, measuring just over 22 inches wide by 18 inches high, gives a birds-eye view of Paris, with many of the city’s most prominent buildings, bridges, and thoroughfares illustrated in detail on a tiny scale. A legend printed at the bottom gives the names of 102 individual sites, each marked by their corresponding number on the image.
The print was given away by the publishers of Every Saturday: An Illustrated Journal of Choice Reading with its October 13, 1866 issue. Every Saturday was a literary magazine that began its publishing run in 1866, and lasted until 1874. For the first two years of its existence it was published by Ticknor and Fields, who happened to be the primary publisher of Henry W. Longfellow’s works and who were instrumental in helping to make him America’s highest-paid poet, enabling Longfellow to put aside his day job as a Harvard professor by 1854 to become a full-time writer.
The print was made from an engraving by Samuel Smith Kilburn, a Boston-based engraver who had a shop at 96 Washington Street until 1871. Books featuring his work continued to be published well into the 1890s. Kilburn created images used for a wide range of publications including periodicals, children’s books, and sheet music.
Who thought to keep and preserver this print at the Longfellow home is unknown. Based on the year (1866) and place of (Boston) publication, it seems likely that Henry W. Longfellow was a subscriber to Every Saturday. Possibly he kept it as a remembrance of his earlier trips to Paris in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s. During his first trip to Europe Henry wrote in a June 20, 1826 letter to his father about Paris, calling it “this great Babylon of modern times”, and that he was “delighted with Paris – where a person if he pleases can keep out of vice as well as elsewhere, tho’ to be sure temptations are multiplied a thousand fold if he is willing to enter into them.” It might instead have been retained by one of his family in anticipation of future travel, perhaps their upcoming grand tour of Europe which took place in 1868-1869. The city made an impression on many of the Longfellow family members who took that trip. Henry’s sister Anne wrote in her journal on November 8, 1869 “Finished the last of the packing all round – it will seem strange to be on the go again after so many weeks stationary in luxurious and wondrous – almost seven weeks in this beautiful City of Paris.”