1853 Darrow and Kellog View of New Haven, Connecticut, from East Rock

Extremely rare view of New Haven and Yale!

This is an extremely rare 1853 lithograph view of New Haven, Connecticut, as seen from East Rock by Titus H. Darrow and the firm of E. C. Kellogg. The view looks south-southwest on New Haven from East Rock, a local high point. The large buildings of Yale University are evident just left of center. The view reviews a bustling port, with numerous ships and a long pier. Several bridges, including an active railroad bridge, exit New Haven to the east. In the foreground, picnickers on East rock observe the town.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Titus H. Darrow and published by the firm of E. C. Kellogg of Hartford. The view is rare. Reps lists examples at the New York Public Library and The New Have Colony Historical Society. We have identified a third example at Yale University. It does not appear in the OCLC.

Cartographers

Titus H. Darrow (1814 - January 9, 1881) was an American viewmaker and visual artist based in Connecticut. Darrow worked with the Kellogg firm to produce several finely executed lithographs of Connecticut towns. He typically preferred to work from an elevated position rather than render the view from an imaginary perspective. In 1859 he was the Plainville Justus of the Peace and in the 1860s he became treasurer of the town of Plymouth, Connecticut. He died in 1881, leaving his wife, Sarah Jane Camp / Darrow, a widow.   Further Details...

Kellogg (fl. c. 1831 - 1947) designates a succession of American lithographic printing and publishing partnerships based in Hartford, Connecticut, whose output included maps, topographical views, and popular pictorial prints. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807 - 1874), a native of Tolland, Connecticut, established D.W. Kellogg and Company in Hartford about 1831, with his younger brother Elijah Chapman Kellogg (1811 - 1881) involved in its early operations. The business opened a wholesale and retail print shop on Main Street in 1834. Daniel moved west in 1836, but his name remained in the imprint until the partnership was dissolved in July 1840, when Elijah and Edmund Burke Kellogg (1809 - 1872) continued as E.B. and E.C. Kellogg. Their cartographic work encompassed allegorical maps, including An Illustrative Map of Human Life Deduced from passages in Sacred Writ (1847), as well as landscape and town views. They also printed views drawn by other artists, including Titus H. Darrow's New Haven, from East Rock, 1853. John Chenevard Comstock joined the business in 1848; the resulting imprints were Kelloggs and Comstock through 1850 and Kellogg and Comstock in 1851. Elijah subsequently traded independently as E.C. Kellogg until Edmund rejoined him in 1855, restoring the E.B. and E.C. Kellogg imprint. The brothers' partnerships and distribution arrangements extended their business beyond Hartford, notably through a New York office established with Horace Thayer in 1846. In 1867, the business became Kellogg and Bulkeley, with Edmund's son Charles E. Kellogg participating alongside William H. Bulkeley and Frank Bulkeley. Charles withdrew in 1874, ending the Kellogg family's involvement, although its name remained attached to the firm. The successor business increasingly emphasized commercial printing and merged with Case, Lockwood and Brainard in 1947 to form Connecticut Printers, which continued until June 1990.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Some discoloration right side, minor paper flaw, upper left.

References

Reps, John, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America (University of Missouri, Columbia, 1984), #584. Finlay, N., Picturing Victorian America, page 112. Deak, Gloria Gilda, Picturing America: 1497-1899, #664.