Desobry, Prosper (fl. 1824 - 1844)

Prosper Desobry (fl. 1824 - 1844) was a French lithographer active in New York City in the early 19th century. Desobry's corpus includes various privately issued plans of New York City, early survey maps, broadside auction advertisements, music sheets, decorative prints, and government publications. It is unclear when Desobry immigrated to the United States, but his first appearance in public records is an 1824 partnership with one Chanou, presumably also a Frenchman, in the lithographic form of Chanou and Desobry, located at 56 Exchange Place. The partnership dissolved in 1827, after which Desobry worked with Antoine Imbert, another Frenchman and one of New York City's pioneering lithographers. Later Desobry worked independently as a lithographer from his offices at the corner of Broadway and Cortlandt Street.