John Warner Barber's Views of Connecticut Towns 1834–1836
Christopher P. Bickford and J. Bard McNulty, editors
The earliest known images of many Connecticut towns
This charming volume reproduces a collection of ink washes produced by engraver and historian John Warner Barber (1798–1885), each depicting a specific locale in a Connecticut town. Barber, possibly the first popular American historian, created these drawings in preparation for producing wood engravings to be included in his book Connecticut Historical Collections (1836), one of the first popular local histories in the US. In creating these drawings, Barber sought realism, but also to portray the beauty in rural nature and the peacefulness and harmony of life in small-town Connecticut. The drawings, most never published before, are accompanied by contemporary descriptions of the view and buildings, and the changes that have occurred there since the mid-nineteenth century. Published in association with the Connecticut Historical Society.