Lot 10257: Allen - The Road Coach Acquidneck

This fine plate is from W. S. Vanderbilt Allen's Sporting Incidents. This work was published by Henry T. Thomas in New York in 1893

The National Horse Show is an annual event, which began in 1883 in the original Madison Square Garden. It continues to this day. A fine plate showing the Road Coach Acquidneck, Horsed and driven by Mr. H. Astor Carey. The Coach Club of New York was founded in 1875, and it established the Newport Coaching Weekend, which still takes place.The driving and maintenance of a road coach was considered both an art and a sport, and a very fashionable pastime. The "Acquidneck" was, according to the text, the first road coach to run out of Newport.

Published during America's Gilded Age, 'Sporting Incidents' is a portfolio of elaborate illustrations depicting equine sporting events and accompanied by H. Milford Steele's eloquent descriptions of the history and status of these activities. It was primarily intended to glorify the increasingly fashionable sports of coaching, hunting, polo and steeple chasing. In its introduction, Colonel William Jay, a founding member of the Coaching Club, extolled the beneficial effect such activities had on the health, behaviour, and moral character of both participants and spectators and explained that the "aim of the artist in this book has been to reproduce such horses and carriages with such details of their equipment as may be useful as hints to those who need them, at the same time furnishing a standard of correctness in such matters."

~ 17 1/4" by 22 3/8"; Plate Size ~ 14 1/4" by 19 3/8"

Heliotype

1893

The work is in very good condition overall. There are some repairs and mostly marginal. There may be a few minor imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact with any questions.

Sporting Incidents