American Country Life - October Afternoon
The firm of Currier and Ives was a New York printmaking firm that operated from 1857 until 1907. Nathaniel Currier was a printmaker who started the business and James, who started as the firm's bookkeeper, became Currier's partner in 1857. Neither man was an artist. The prints were drawn and lithographed by other persons, such as J. E. Butterworth, George H. Durrie, Louis Maurer, Frances or "Fanny" Flora Bond Palmer, Charles Parsons, Napoleon Sarony, and Thomas Worth - to name a few. Nathaniel Currier died in 1888 and James Ives died in 1895. The firm carried on until 1907 under the direction of their sons, Edward West Currier and Chauncey Ives.
The business of the firm was to produce lithographed prints which were intended to be sold to the general public for picture framing and display in the home or business place. For nearly seventy-five years, the firm provided "Colored Engravings for the People," and called themselves "Printmakers to the People." Currier and Ives gave America a nineteenth-century pictorial history of the country's growth from an agricultural society to an industrialized one.
Many newsworthy events were recorded with prints depicting every subject relating to American life: religion, politics, historical figures, views of homes, rural homesteads, sports, music, entertainment, games, life in the home, children, wildlife, hunting, fishing, railroad trains, ships, and many more.
Currier & Ives' prints were sold either directly from Currier & Ives' shop in New York or through other printsellers around the United States and overseas. Other printsellers were always eager to carry the latest images because of the quality and variety of Currier & Ives prints.
The number of recorded Currier & Ives prints is now over 7,500 different titles, although new titles turn up occasionally, all carefully recorded by the American Historical Print Collectors Society in order to maintain a current listing of Currier & Ives prints.
Most Currier & Ives prints were hand-colored lithographs, but Currier & Ives also issued some uncolored prints and also chromolithographs. The smaller folio prints which are approximately 8" x 12 1/2" originally sold for about 20 cents each and the medium folio, approximately 10-14" x 14-20" and large folio consisting of prints about 14" x 20," sold for between $1 and $3. At such an affordable price, it's easy to see why once, these handsome prints graced many American homes. We even occasionally see them on the walls of homes depicted in many older movies. Today, originals can rarely be seen, except in a few private collections and museums. The most valuable Currier & Ives prints are what are called "Best 50" prints which were judged to be the best, as a result of a study sponsored by the American Historical Print Collectors Society, but collectors should not limit themselves to these prints. It is always desirable to acquire at least one of the "Best 50" prints.
There are prints of political cartoons, banners, portraits, historical prints, certificates, moral and religious prints, sentimental prints, prints for children, pioneer home scenes, humor, lithographed sheet music and much more.
See more Currier & Ives prints.