Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

Important Lithographic Views of Pre-Fire Chicago

Chicago: Jevne & Almini, January 1866-January 1867. First edition, complete in 13 original monthly parts (all published). From the library of Kenneth Nebenzahl, with his book-plate in folding case. Illustrated with 52 fine tinted and color lithographic plates of city views, by Louis Kurz and the Chicago Lithographing Company; with accompanying letterpress text, by James W. Sheahan. Publisher's limp pictorial lithographic wrappers, scattered minor spotting, some small repairs to spines; letterpress prospectus laid-in to Part I; very minor pale spotting to some plate margins; occasional offsetting to text; in quarter brown levant over brown cloth clamshell box. Chicago Ante-Fire Imprints 1047; Caxton Chicago 101, 3; Howes J-108 ("d"); Sabin 12623

A fascinating and significant portrait of pre-fire Chicago.

Chicago Illustrated remains the most comprehensive record of the physical appearance of the city before its destruction by the Great Fire of 1871. Austrian-born Louis Kurz created the lithographed views which exude "an almost palpable sense of the hustle and bustle of pre-Fire Chicago" (Chicago 101). Otto Jevne and Peter M. Almini, decorators known for ornamental painting, joined with Kurz (who would later form the famous Kurz & Allison firm) and two other lithographers to form the Chicago Lithographing Company. James W. Sheahan, a journalist who published the Chicago Times and later the Chicago Post, contributed the text.  

The complete work was originally meant to include 25 parts, but only these 13 parts were ever completed. In the prospectus for the work, Jevne & Almini promised "to publish, in Monthly Parts, an illustrated History of Chicago,--that is, a history of the more important and striking evidences of the city's improvement and enterprise." The parts were issued at $1.50 per part until the project terminated in January 1867. "In general Chicago Illustrated is a paean to the new colossus rising alongside the lake" (Chicago 101).