To celebrate Washington's Birthday last year, we featured Chief Justice John Marshall's biography of the nation's first president, part of the original 1845 library of the Naval Academy. This year, we highlight another early acquisition, John Frost's Pictorial Life of George Washington, published in Philadelphia in 1848.
Frost (1800-1859), a Harvard graduate, served as principal of the Mayhew School in Boston, subsequently moving to Philadelphia where he ran a school for young women. In 1838, he joined the faculty of Philadelphia's Central High School as professor of English literature. He resigned in 1845 to devote himself to writing and compiling histories and biographies. Among his works, which can also be found in Special Collections & Archives, are The Mexican War and Its Warriors, The Book of the Navy, The Pictorial Book of the Commodores, and Universal Naval History.
It is easy to forget, living in a world inundated with images, that most books prior to the mid-nineteenth century had few, if any, illustrations. The engravings for the Pictorial Life of George Washington, the majority of which were the work of William Croome and George Devereux, lack the artistry of those produced by younger, contemporary engravers such as John Sartain or F.O.C. Darley; however, even in their less polished state, the illustrations provide readers with visual references to the text. The list of illustrations following the book's table of contents identities the artist and illustrator for each engraving.
W.E. Tucker's engraved frontispiece is adapted from John Trumbull's 1792 painting, "Washington before the Battle of Trenton."
George Devereux's depiction of Washington in his first job as surveyor at the age of 16.
William Croome's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" may have been inspired by Philadelphia artist Thomas Sully's 1819 painting "The Passage of the Delaware."
William Croome's "Battle of Brandywine" depicts Washington ordering General Nathanael Greene to move his reserves to reinforce the right flank in the battle that took place outside Philadelphia on September 11, 1777.
Henry Bricher's engraving after William Croome's sketch of Denis A. Volozan's 1802 portrait painted for the state of Delaware.
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