American Historical Ephemera and Photography

A group of 30 (out of 40) etchings, each approx. 24 x 19 in., from numbered series (1-40) Life Studies of the Great Army, including plate numbers 1-2, 4-9, 12-18, 20, 23-25, 28-36, 38, and 40 (each housed under archival mat, many in very good to near excellent condition, some with spotting, soiling, and staining to margins). Each etching with 1876 copyright date, plate number, and title printed in the lower margin. A fine group of etchings documenting soldier and civilian life during the Civil War, including camp and battlefield scenes.

[With:] 3 additional etchings by Forbes, including 2 examples, 21 1/4 x 16 1/4 in., with 1876 copyright date and title in lower margin as well as applied paper label with information about the plate. Third etching, 16 x 10 in., appears to have been trimmed down from another publication and mounted to thin cardstock with newspaper backing, with 1876 copyright date and title in lower margin (corner/edge wear and loss to etching). -- 3 illustrated pages (1 full page and 2 partial) removed from 1868 and 1877 issues of Harper's Weekly.

Born in New York City, Edwin Forbes was a student of Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait and began his career as a painter of animals and landscapes. During the Civil War, he became a reportorial artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, joining the staff at age 22 in 1861. He was attached to the Army of the Potomac and was one of the youngest and one of the few artists who covered the entire war. Most of his illustrations documented the daily life of the soldiers, but he also depicted battle scenes including the Second Battle of Bull Run and Hooker's Charge at Antietam. He used many of his pencil sketches for large paintings after the war and from them, produced a series of detailed etchings, which were published in Life Studies of the Great Army in 1876. This series earned Forbes a gold medal at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.