Buffalo Harbor in 1825

""Buffalo Harbour from the village,"" (lithograph, 8.3 x 4.1 ins.), published in Cadwallader D. Colden's ""Memoir.. Presented .. At the Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals,"" New York: 1825, p. 295, a work noteworthy as containing the earliest examples of illustrations reproduced in the United States by lithography. This view is one of a series of two pertaining to Buffalo [Nos. 4 and 6 of this collection], appearing in this volume, which was published by the State to commemorate the completion of the Erie Canal. The sketch was made, and transferred to stone, by George Catlin, the noted authority on Indian ways and customs, and bears the imprint, ""Catlin del.,"" ""Imbert's Lith.""; while on p. 370 of the work occurs the statement: ""This was drawn from nature and lithographed by Geo. Catlin, Esq.,"" with the added description: ""From the terrace the view extends over the canal, terminating in the basin, the creek, and harbor, the shipping the lighthouse, with the long breakwater projecting into Lake Erie; on the horizon, in the Center, is the expanse of the Lake; on the right of the picture is the American, and on the left of it the Canada shores."" The buildings on the river bank in this view may readily be identified with those appearing in No. 3 of this collection (see the comments given there). The sign-post at the left is that of the Mansion House, at the corner of Main and Crow [Exchange] Streets. The streets appearing are Main St., Canal [Commercial] St., and the Terrace. The population of Buffalo in 1825 was 2412 and buildings numbered from 400 to 500. Two different lithographic plates of this view were made for this work. The earlier lithograph, by Catlin, may be distinguished from the later plate,--made by another hand and found in later copies of the work,--by the Indians standing about the sign-post at the left and sitting on the adjacent bank, by the primitive type of the shipping and of conveyance protrayed, and by the many figures of pedestrians portrayed. A copy of the work with the earlier plate is in the possession of the Buffalo Public Library, the Buffalo Historical Society, and George Nathan Newman.