The Hudson River Portfolio

This bound set of hand-colored aquatints presents views along two hundred plus miles of the Hudson River, descending from Lake Luzerne in the foothills of the Adirondacks, to New York City. Enhanced by John Agg's text, the prints are considered amongst the finest produced in 19th-century America. In the summer of 1820, Irish-born William Guy Wall traveled down the Hudson to sketch potential subjects, then made watercolors to be engraved. John Rubens Smith was hired to produce the related aquatints, but soon was replaced by John Hill (both men had moved to the United States from London, with Hill proving the more skilled and experienced). Between 1821 and 1825, Hill reworked four plates begun by Smith, then produced sixteen more. After the prints were hand-colored, subscribers received them in sets of four (irregular numbering resulted as twenty-four planned subjects were reduced to twenty during publication; and the numbering was adjusted in the second edition of 1828).
54.90.1274(1) Plate 1: Little Falls at Luzerne [2nd of third number, 1822-23].
54.90.1274(2) Plate 2: Junction of the Sacandaga and Hudson Rivers [2nd of first number, 1821-22].
54.90.1274(3) Plate 3: View Near Jessups Landing [1st of first number, 1821-22].
54.90.1274(4) Plate 4: Rapids Above Hadley's Falls [1st of third number, 1822-23].
54.90.1274(5) Plate 5: Hadley's Falls [4th of first number, 1821-22].
54.90.1274(6) Plate 6: Glenns Falls [2nd of second number, 1822].
54.90.1274(7) Plate 7: View Near Sandy Hill [3rd of third number, 1822-23].
54.90.1274(8) Plate 8: Baker's Falls [1st of fourth number, 1823-24].
54.90.1274(9) Plate 10 (later Plate 9): View Near Fort Miller [1st of second number, 1822].
54.90.1274(10) Plate 10: Fort Edward [4th of third number, 1822-23].
54.90.1274(11) Plate 11: Troy from Mount Ida [3rd of first number, 1821-22].
54.90.1274(12) Plate 13: Hudson [1st of fifth number, 1825].
54.90.1274(13) Plate 14: Newburgh [3rd of fifth number, 1825].
54.90.1274(14) Plate 15 (later Plate 12): View Near Hudson [3rd of second number, 1822].
54.90.1274(15) Plate 15: View from Fishkill looking towards Westpoint [2nd of fifth number, 1825].
54.90.1274(16) Plate 16: West Point [4th of fifth number, 1825].
54.90.1274(17) Plate 17: View Near Fishkill [4th of fourth number, 1823-24] .
54.90.1274(18) Plate 19: Palisades [2nd of fourth number, 1823-24].
54.90.1274(19) Plate 20: New York from Governor's Island [4th of second number, 1822].
54.90.1274(20) Plate 22 (later Plate 18): View Near Fort Montgomery [3rd of fourth number, 1823-24].