~~Unit 1848190106~~
H. Walke
Naval Portfolio Mexican War
7 of 8 Lithographs

Condition. These seven lithographs are each permanently affixed to a medium thickness (.065 in / .1625 cm) backing card. I do not believe they can be removed from this backing mat. The lithographs are in Good to Very Good condition. A lithograph by lithograpy inventory of condition will be provided on request. Overall this is a very attractive unit of these lithographs which are usually found in much worse condition than these. The unit is priced according to condition.

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The below 7 images are from a digital camera.

High Resolution Pics, Lithograph by Lithograph are here:

• Naval Print #1 US Steam Frigate Mississippi
• Naval Print #2 Ascending the Taspan River
• Naval Print #3 US Steamers Scorpion, Spitfire, Vixen & Scourge
• Naval Print #4 Attack of the Mexicans from the Chapperal
• Naval Print #5 Ascending the Tabasco River (mat permanently affixed over lithograph)
• Naval Print #6 Landing Against Tabasco
• Naval Print #7 Capture of the City of Tabasco
• Naval Print #8 Not Present in this Unit - The U.S. Naval Battery During the Bombardment of Vera Cruz on the 24 and 25 of March 1847

Each plate, as mounted, measures approximately 26.5 x 21.5 in. I have handled these lithographs unmounted and they measured in this same range give or take 1/2 inch. It is clear that none of the image or lettering has been trimmed away.

Specific Information on this Unit of Lithographs.

Henry Walke's Classic Naval Lithograph Portfolio.

Perhaps the rarest American Naval print series was created by then Lieutenant H. (Henry) Walke. It is a series of eight lithographs depicting Naval actions in the Mexican War in the Spring and Summer of 1847. Walke served in the war as the second in command of the U.S.S. Vesuvius, a bomb brig of the Gulf Squadron. During the war the Vesuvius participated in the blockade of Laguna and supported landings at Tuxpan and Tabasco.

After serving for eight months on the Vesuvius, Walke returned to the United States in October 1847 and went on extended leave until September of 1848. On his return he immediately began work on his Naval lithograph portfolio and it was completed during this period.

All of the lithographs were after original art by Walke. He personally rendered five of them onto the lithograph stones. Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7 were executed by Walke onto the lithograph stones. The others (Nos. 2, 6 & 8) were executed on the lithograph stones by others but based upon Walke's original art.

"Naval Portfolio .... No. 1~8" is stated at the top of each lithograph. There is also a line of text in smaller print reading "Naval Scenes in the Mexican War by H. Walke, Lieut. U.S. Navy." The image is surrounded by a thick (2~4 mm wide) frame box. Directly below the image and within the frame box, small print text is seen at the left (lithographer - "Sarony & Major"), middle ("Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1847 (1848)...."). Those lithographs actually executed by Walke on the lithograph stone (Nos 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7) state "Executed by H. Walke, Lt, U.S.N." or "Designed and Drawn on Stone by H. Walke, Lt, U.S.N." at the far right. When the H. Walke work was actually rendered onto the lithograph stone by another artist (Nos. 2, 6 & 8) at the far left it states "Painted by H.Walke L. U.S.N, Drawn on Stone by (name of artist)." At the bottom under the image frame box in large print is the title of the image in double line letters. This is followed by lines of smaller print with descriptive text which contains a date of for the naval action depicted. On some of the lithographs the name and address of the lithographer/publisher ("Published by Sarony & Major, 117 Fulton Street, New York.") is stated below the descriptive text. The name of the publisher/lithographer (Sarony & Major) is often found at the far right or far left under the image but within the image box.

The plate size of these lithographs is generally 20 3/4 x 26 3/4+ in (53 x 68 cm). The Yale University Library lists the size of the prints as 54 x 73 cm. The image areas (including the image frame box) vary slightly but generally measure 15~15 1/4 x 21 1/4~22 1/2 in (37.8~38.5 x 53.8~56.8 cm).

The most of the lithographs I would call tinted lithographs. There are executed in black & white and contain an additional tint color tint. Some of the lithographs contain more that one tint and appear to be properly classified as multi-color (chromolithographs).

This work is sometimes described as a book. It apparently was issued with a folio case to house the loose lithographs. Complete sets of all eight lithographs are rarely seen. Even single lithographs are seldom seen and generally in poor condition. The Library of Congress on-line exhibit titled "Pictorial America" contains all 8 of these lithographs.

More information on Henry Walke is here