This little view of Boston is a reduced version of one of the most important and rare views of Colonial Boston. In 1768 the leading print dealers of London jointly published a set of American views in the Scenographia Americana. The views were made from drawings that were drawn on the spot, often by military artists. Six of the views were from sketches made by Thomas Pownall - including this one. Thomas Pownall, governor of Massachusetts during the French and Indian War (1757-59), was one of the few sympathetic colonial governors in the British Colonies. He was also an artist, author and mapmaker. This version, engraver unknown, appeared in the Universal Magazine. There was also a later version published in the mid-nineteenth century.

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Condition: A

Nice impression with full margins with an area of very light offsetting, still very good. A little marginal toning or soiling at left. The spectacular and complex watermark is nearly as large as the sheet of paper and is similar to one illustrated in Raymond Lester's "Old Maps and Globes."