Virginia - grandest of American caverns - scene in the ballroom in the newly-discovered cave at Luray, Page County, December 27th, 1878. – Vintage Wall Art
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this antique engraving of Virginia - grandest of American caverns - scene in the ballroom in the newly-discovered cave at Luray, Page County, December 27th, 1878.. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
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Virginia - grandest of American caverns - scene in the ballroom in the newly-discovered cave at Luray, Page County, December 27th, 1878.
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The ballroom at Luray Caverns, in Page County, Virginia, was one of the cave's most celebrated chambers when this engraving was made. The cave had only recently been opened to visitors after its discovery in 1878, and the scene reflects the excitement of a natural wonder that suddenly became accessible. Joseph Becker's sketches were turned into a wood engraving for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, which was then one of the most popular illustrated weeklies in the country. Such engravings were the main way American readers saw distant places before halftone photographs became common in print.
| Created / published | 1878 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : wood engraving. |
| Notes | Wood engraving after sketches by Joseph Becker. Illus. in: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, (1878 Jan. 18), p. 366. No ref. copy. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geogr.; Caves; Publ. Ind. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 996 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-151324 |
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