San Diego California Frontier City View 1848 Graham lithographed print

San Diego from the Old Fort.

(Old Prints, 19th Century Prints, Landscape Views, City Views, United States, California, San Diego).

Attractive and important original antique lithographed view of this Southwestern America location [California].

The earliest printed view of San Diego, California.

Issued 1848, Washington for the Emory/ Abert report "Military Reconnoissance from Missouri to San Diego, in California..." [House issue].

Lithographed by C. B. Graham, after artwork by John Mix Stanley.

The views which appeared in the Emory Report of 1848 are the earliest printed visual images of the locations depicted and this early view is obtainable in variant states by different lithographers.

It is the earliest obtainable view of the city, when it was little more than a military outpost.

Background: The 14 man reconnaissance party led by Emory was sent out to gather detailed topographical and scientific information on this then little known and largely unexplored part of the continent during the 1846-48 Mexican-Mexican War. This small group accompanied General S.W. Kearny and his Army of the West as it first travelled to and then subdued New Mexico, then continuing on to secure California for the United States Government.

This view depicts the city at the moment it was captured by the U.S. military, and this battle initiated the Mexican-U.S. War of 1846-48.

At the conclusion of the successful military campaigns in California, this huge Southwestern area was then quickly ultimately ceded to the U.S. by the Guadelupe-Hidalgo Treaty. The area ceded included much of present-day California, Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.

Sheet Measures c. 5 1/4" H x 9" W.

Engraved Area Measures c. 4 1/4" H x 7" W.

[R29333].

Sloan, Zamorano 80 auction catalogue, 2003, #33, pp. 108- 114.