Birch's Views of Philadelphia

The 27 illustrations of the city are extraordinarily valuable to historians because they document Philadelphia architecture and street-life at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Formally titled The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America; as it appeared in the Year 1800, the volume was self-published by William Birch in December 1800.

Thomas Jefferson, then Vice President of the United States, was among the 156 subscribers to the initial printing.

The Chevalier d'Yrujo, former Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin, New York City Mayor Richard Varick, architect Benjamin Latrobe, artist Edward Savage, and several members of Congress.

Plate 29 shows the USS Frigate Philadelphia being built in a Southwark shipyard, but the engraving's ominous title, "Preparation for WAR to defend Commerce," refers to the 1798-1800 Quasi-War with France, in which hundreds of American merchant vessels were boarded or seized.

The City & Port of Philadelphia, on the River Delaware from Kensington, an iconic portrait of the elm tree in Philadelphia where tradition holds that William Penn signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon with the Lenape Indian tribe in 1682