DESCRIPTION: SOLD
Copper-plate engraving of a dead whale lying on the Greenland shore prior to butchering. A worker has marked a grid on the whale and is about to begin work removing the blubber with a large flensing tool. Shows windlasses and a sled used to haul the carcass ashore. Originally published in 1619, this state is from Churchill's Collection of Voyages & Travel (1744) vol. I. Page 444.
The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1744
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Greenland
BODY OF WATER: N/A
CONDITION: Fair
Some light foxing. Good platemark and margins. Remnants of old glue on verso only at margins.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Unknown
SIZE: 10
" x
6 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $
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