Description
Theodore Jasper was a German-born American painter best known for his bird paintings that formed the basis for the chromolithograph illustrations in Studer’s Popular Ornithology, a late 19th-century popular bird guide that had several editions. From the 1840s to the 1860s he worked in New York and Connecticut, and was active in Columbus, Ohio from around 1866 to 1883.
Bingham & Dodd was a lithography firm in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1860 to 1883, founded by John H. Bingham and William Henry Dodd. Prior to working with Dodd, Bingham was associated with Joseph Kelley as Bingham and Kelley. In 1884 he was listed as living in Hartford and working in New York. Prior to working with Bingham, Dodd worked in the firm of his father, the engraver Samuel Dodd, in Newark, New Jersey, from 1853 to 1860.
Thomas W. Wason (1811-1870) cofounded his railroad car manufacturing company with his brother Charles. By the early 1850s, Charles left and Thomas continued with other partners under the name T.W. Wason. Wason’s accomplishments include building what was probably the first sleeping car. Known for its luxurious rail carriages, the firm obtained a large order of $300,000 from the Viceroy of Egypt including a private railroad car (a multimillion dollar contract in today’s money). As an interesting historical footnote, Wason’s employee Milton Bradley did the drawings for the project and went on to found his own lithographic firm that later became the Milton Bradley game manufacturing company. Wason filled large orders for both American and foreign railroads, with exports making up over half its business. By the time Wason died in 1870, the company was Springfield’s largest industry. After his death, his partner George Fisk expanded the business, building a new state of the art plant. Wason Manufacturing Company continued to flourish for several more decades. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of the J.G. Brill Company in 1906, remaining in operation until Brill closed in 1932.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, handling, wear, soft creases. Pale faint dampstain upper right, extending slightly into sky, unobtrusive. Credit line in red ink quite faded.
References:
Groce, George C. and Wallace, David H. The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. pp. 50 and 180.
“State Carriage For His Highness the Vice-Roy of Egypt.” Huntington Digital Library. http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16003coll4/id/1466 (29 May 2015).
“State Carriage For His Highness the Vice-Roy of Egypt.” WorldCat. http://www.worldcat.org/title/state-carriage-for-his-highness-the-vice-roy-of-egypt-built-by-tw-wason-co-springfield-mass-us/oclc/191119159 (29 May 2015).
“Theodore Jasper.” Wikipedia. 1 May 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Jasper (29 May 2015).
“Wason Manufacturing Company.” Builders of Wooden Railroad Cars. 11 April 2006. http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/wason1.htm (29 May 2015).
