298

Thomas Western's Plan of Defence.

[New York, 1812]
Partly hand-colored engravings, 12 x 5¼ inches; folds, minor wear, laid down on early paper, headed in faint manuscript "Universal Prisam Defense."

  • Notes: First state, without added shading. Thomas Western (1755-1820) was born in England and came to New York in 1794. He manufactured pianos and dealt in a variety of musical instruments. This detailed plan shows the harbor from the southern tip of Manhattan down the Staten Island and Brooklyn coasts and south to Amboy Sound, with cannons on the Staten Island side of the narrowest point of the harbor, overlooking a series of interlocking obstacles. Any ship attempting to weave its way through these barricades would be subject to withering fire. 

    We trace only 3 other examples of this curious engraving, all of them from the same Western family scrapbook--one of them dated April 1812 in manuscript. This example comes from a different consignor. 
  • Condition:
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November 20, 2025 10:30 AM EST
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