Blue Mountains View from top of Grose Head c1874.

by Prout, John Skinner

Antique print of the wonderful Blue Mountains west of Sydney c1874.

Original steel engraving by Thomas Heawood (fl. 1850-1879), after a drawing by prominent English landscape artist and engraver John Skinner Prout (1806-1876) for for Australia Illustrated by Edwin Carton Booth. Published in London by Virtue and Company circa 1874. Many of the finest antique engravings for Australia Illustrated were engraved from mirror images of Skinner Prout's fine sketches.

Skinner Prout was born on 19 December 1805 at Plymouth in England. On 14 December 1840 he arrived in Sydney with his wife and seven children. He brought a complete lithographic printing press with him, and in early 1841 he started producing lithographed versions of his drawings of Sydney. In January 1844 Prout moved to Hobart and commenced drawing Hobart and its environs for a series of lithographs. Skinner Prout went on many sketching trips throughout New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, often accompanying sketching clubs that he helped to organize. Prout and his family returned to England in April 1848.

This engraving has slight foxing. It has wide margins as published. The image enlarges the detail of the engraving and title. Image size is 123 x 175mm (4 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches). Page size is 21 x 27cm (8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches).