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Lot Essay
Henry Dawkins, one of America's most important early engravers, immigrated from England to New York after 1750. He later established himself in Philadelphia. A 1758 advertisement from the Pennsylvania Journal records that: "Henry Dawkins, Engraver from London. Engraves all sorts of maps, Shopkeepers bills, bills of parcels, coats of arms for gentlemens books, coats of arms, cyphers, and other devices on Plate; likewise seals, and mourning rings cut after the neatest manner and at the most reasonable rates."
Dawkins work is rare, and prized. He made the earliest engraving of the New York State coat-of-arms, and his 1762 engraving of a view of Princeton College is one of the earliest views of that school.
Dawkins is also notorious for counterfeiting paper money. Arrested in 1776 and confined in appalling conditions in White Plains, Dawkins wrote to the Provincial Congress of New York in 1776, pleading for his own death. He wrote of his own incarceration: "since the first day he was taken had but one shirt and one pair of stockings to shift himself, and hath been afflicted during his imprisonment at White Plains with the worst of enemies, hunger and nauseous stench of a small room where some twenty person were confined together which hath introduced a sickness on your distressed subscriber which with the fatigue of travelling hath reduced your unhappy petitioner to a state of despondency - he therefore being weary of such a miserable life as his misconduct has thrown him into begs for a termination by death to be inflicted upon him in what manner this Honourable House may see fit."
The circumstantances of Dawkins release from prison are unclear, but he returned to Philadelphia where he continued his work as an engraver, with a considerable trade in bookplates. This bookplate is highly significant as it is signed by Dawkins. It is also very unusual as it depicts members of the Decatur family. The sitters are Captain Stephen Decatur (1752-1808), his wife, Ann Pine and their three children, the future naval hero, Stephen (1779-1820), Anne Pine (1776-1819), and the baby, James Bruce (1782-1804). The Decatur family, based in Philadelphia, would have patronized Dawkins, as did other prominent Philadelphia citizens.
According to family tradition, this bookplate passed from Captain Stephen Decatur to his son, Commodore Stephen Decatur, who died without issue. The bookplate then passed to Commodore Decatur's brother, Colonel John Pine Decatur (1786-1832), and thence by descent to the present owner.
The most illustrious member of the Decatur family, Stephen Decatur first gained attention for his heroic role recapturing an American vessel in Tripoli harbor, in 1804. He gained greater prominence for his actions in the War of 1812. He was appointed U.S. Naval Commissioner and built an impressive federal residence in Washington, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Decatur was mortally wounded in a duel in 1820. His Washington residence is now the Decatur House museum.
CAPTION: The New York Coat-of-Arms of 1778, engraved by H. Dawkins, as illustrated in American Collector, "The Conflicting History of Henry Dawkins, Engraver," January 1939, p. 6.
Dawkins work is rare, and prized. He made the earliest engraving of the New York State coat-of-arms, and his 1762 engraving of a view of Princeton College is one of the earliest views of that school.
Dawkins is also notorious for counterfeiting paper money. Arrested in 1776 and confined in appalling conditions in White Plains, Dawkins wrote to the Provincial Congress of New York in 1776, pleading for his own death. He wrote of his own incarceration: "since the first day he was taken had but one shirt and one pair of stockings to shift himself, and hath been afflicted during his imprisonment at White Plains with the worst of enemies, hunger and nauseous stench of a small room where some twenty person were confined together which hath introduced a sickness on your distressed subscriber which with the fatigue of travelling hath reduced your unhappy petitioner to a state of despondency - he therefore being weary of such a miserable life as his misconduct has thrown him into begs for a termination by death to be inflicted upon him in what manner this Honourable House may see fit."
The circumstantances of Dawkins release from prison are unclear, but he returned to Philadelphia where he continued his work as an engraver, with a considerable trade in bookplates. This bookplate is highly significant as it is signed by Dawkins. It is also very unusual as it depicts members of the Decatur family. The sitters are Captain Stephen Decatur (1752-1808), his wife, Ann Pine and their three children, the future naval hero, Stephen (1779-1820), Anne Pine (1776-1819), and the baby, James Bruce (1782-1804). The Decatur family, based in Philadelphia, would have patronized Dawkins, as did other prominent Philadelphia citizens.
According to family tradition, this bookplate passed from Captain Stephen Decatur to his son, Commodore Stephen Decatur, who died without issue. The bookplate then passed to Commodore Decatur's brother, Colonel John Pine Decatur (1786-1832), and thence by descent to the present owner.
The most illustrious member of the Decatur family, Stephen Decatur first gained attention for his heroic role recapturing an American vessel in Tripoli harbor, in 1804. He gained greater prominence for his actions in the War of 1812. He was appointed U.S. Naval Commissioner and built an impressive federal residence in Washington, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Decatur was mortally wounded in a duel in 1820. His Washington residence is now the Decatur House museum.
CAPTION: The New York Coat-of-Arms of 1778, engraved by H. Dawkins, as illustrated in American Collector, "The Conflicting History of Henry Dawkins, Engraver," January 1939, p. 6.