Discounted: The Hawkesbury, New South Wales. Prout, c1874.

by Prout, John Skinner

Antique print of Hawkesbury River, north-west of Sydney.

Original steel engraving by H. Bibby, after a drawing by prominent English landscape artist and engraver John Skinner Prout (1806-1876) for Edwin Carton Booth’s Australia Illustrated published in London circa 1874 by Virtue and Company. Skinner Prout was one of the principal artists for this wonderful publication on Australia in the 19th century. This engraving was made from a mirror image of Skinner Prout's drawing in the middle of the 19th century.

Skinner Prout was born on 19 December 1805 at Plymouth in England. On 14 December 1840 he arrived in Sydney with his wife, their seven children, and a complete lithographic printing press. From early in 1841 Prout sketched and lithographed the Sydney regions. In January 1844 Prout moved to Hobart and drew Hobart and its environs for a series of lithographs.He helped organize and accompanied sketching trips in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. Prout and his family returned to England in April 1848.

This antique print has fine later hand-colour. It has a faint crease across the top left corner of page (hence the reduced price), and the top edge has been slightly cropped. The other margins are wide, as issued.Image size is 12 x 19cm (4 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches). Cropped page size is 30.5 x 27cm (12 x 14 1/2 inches).