History, American, American Firefighting, Set of 4 Antique Prints, 1858

Running to a Fire: A Collision (No. 1)
Near a Fire: An Awkward Attachment (No. 2)
Near a Fire: Say! Just hold this while I fetch another Section, will you. (Likely?) (No. 3)
At a Fire: What Boys may expect when they get in Firemen’s way (No. 4)
from The Fireman
Harrison & Weightman, Philadelphia: 1858
Hand-colored lithographs
7.5 x 5.5 inches, image
10 x 7.5 inches overall
$3,600, set of 4

Set of four lithographs with humorous depictions of fire fighters rushing about their work in an urban setting amidst oblivious pedestrians. Although the details of the setting are very realistic, the situations are broadly slapstick and somewhat satirical. In the first, Running to a Fire: A Collision, a fireman blows an alert on a trumpet, upsetting the wares of a curbside fruit vendor as he rushes past. The fireman determinedly marching down the sidewalk with his ladder in Near a Fire: An Awkward Attachment has unwittingly hooked its ends on the coat of an elegantly dressed gent who struggles to keep his balance. In the foreground, water sprays from two small leaks in the firehose lying in the street. The third plate, also titled Near a Fire, shows the ­handsome, bearded fireman futilely asking a snobbish gent carrying a cane and a cigar to hold the hose while he runs to get another section. The fourth plate, At a Fire, takes place at the site of a burning building and demonstrates “what Boys may expect when they get in Firemen’s way” — that is, blasted in the face by a spray of water.