Action of the Gunboats at Memphis

Action of the Gunboats at Memphis (1865)

I obtained this lithograph at a place called the Book Garden in New Jersey for $10.  I had no idea what I had purchased, but was guessing that it was printed in the 1870s-80s based on the paper and printing style.  It turns out it is a steel lithograph based on a painting by Alonzo Chappel called "Action of the Gunboats at Memphis."

This lithograph appears to come out of a book called Battles of the United States by Sea and Land published in 1865.  The volume contains descriptions of the battles engaged by the United States with accompanying lithographs to illustrate.  All the illustrations/lithographs are based on paintings done by artist Alonzo Chappel.  My guess is that over the years these books were taken apart for the lithographs and sold piecemeal.  You often just see the lithographs for sale online.

I was able to find the second volume of this set online in a PDF form.  The second volume contains descriptions and illustrations of the French and Indian War, American Revoluation, War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.  It was published in 1858, just before the outbreak of the American Civil War.  My guess is that after the Civil War they published a third volume just focused on the American Civil War, and this is the book that this lithograph comes from.

Screen shot taken of the title page of the

second volume of the series.

I've seen prices for Action of the Gunboats at Memphis lithograph range from $50 to $100 online, so I think I did pretty well with this $10 purchase.  Also, if you look carefully at the left side of the image you might notice that it looks a little cleaner (the corners, especially).  This is because I took a white eraser to it, and did some very light restoration.  I will probably do the right side now, but I wanted to leave it half done to show what can be done simply with a white eraser (and a very careful hand).