FORBES, CAPTAIN ROBERT BENNET, 🐻AND FITZ HENRY LANE

THE VOYAGE OF THE JAMESTOWN ON HER ERRAND OF MERCY. BOSTON: EASTBURN'S PRESS, 1847

8vo (9 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.; 235 x 140 mm). Lith𒁏ographed frontispiece by Fitz Henry Lane. Publisher's blindstamped brown cloth, upper cover gilt lettered.

A Boston committee of philanthropists and a joint resolution of Congress authorized the Navy to deploy the Jamestown, under Captain Forbes, to deliver 8,000 barrels of provisions to Cork, Ireland during the great potato famine. This work was published subsequently, so that the "expedition will always be remem𝓀bered in the history of philanthropy." The work includes Forbes' account of the voyage and his reception, as well as a lengthy appendix containing transcripts of numerous letters and⛄ resolutions relating to the voyage.

Importꦦantly, the lithographed frontispiece of the ship departing from Boston is by Fitz Henry Lane (also known, mistakenly, as Fitz Hugh Lane). "Lane had already made two lithographs of Forbes's innovative steam-powered vessels in 1845, Auxiliary Steam Packet Ship Massachusetts (inv. 442) and Steam packet ship Mass., in a Squall, Nov. 10, 1845 (inv. 443). It was natural that, in 1847, Forbes would turn to Lane to make a lithograph for the frontispiece of his book. In the print the sloop is sitting low in the water, attesting to its heavy load. Forbes's steam tow boat, the 'R. B. Forbes' is in the water behind the 'Jamestown' and the buildings of Boston and Charlestown can be seen behind that" (Fitz Henry Lane Online, Cape Ann Museum, Inv. 475). It is only in the last twenty years that the unique qualities of Lane's lithographic work have been appreciated: as in his paintings, his prints display sensitivity to gradations of light and a refined draughtsmanship that is virtually unique among 19th-century American lithographers.

REFERENCE:

Craig, James. Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America fig. 32; Sabin 25051