Snapshots of the Past

The Patent Office – Antique Print

The Patent Office — antique engraving
The Patent Office. Antique engraving from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(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

A window into the past: The Patent Office, preserved in this antique engraving. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. A fine choice for anyone who loves history, and a gift that gets noticed. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

The Patent Office

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The Patent Office in Washington, D.C., is the subject of this wood engraving, which ran as an illustration in *Harper's New Monthly Magazine* in 1859. Designed by architect Robert Mills and built in stages beginning in the 1830s, the granite building was a showpiece of Greek Revival design and held the government's growing collection of patent models. Engravings like this one brought the capital's public buildings to a national magazine readership, and the image is worth a closer look for its crisp line work and its view of a building that was then central to American invention.

Medium1 print : wood engraving.
Notes1859
SubjectsIllus. in: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 20, 1859, p. 14. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: DC, Washington--Buildings, US Government; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 979 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-134880

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