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AAS #:	44
Name:	Library and Surgeons Hall, Philadelphia
View:	Library and Surgeons Hall, in Fifth Street Philadelphia
Description:	Plate 7” in dark blue with repetitive rose and leaf medallion border. View on plate is of the Library and Surgeons Hall of Philadelphia which was located on Fifth Street. The two-story building is designed with four pilasters on the front, a second story niche containing a statue of Benjamin Franklin, principal founder of the Library Company of Philadelphia, with a pediment over the niche. There are two figures in the center foreground and a feathery-leaved tree in the left foreground, with a number of buildings in the left background
Potter:	John & William Ridgway, 1814-1830 (Cauldon Place) Hanley
Date:	ca. 1825
Artist:	William Birch (1755-1834) Illustrator and Engraver
Marks:	(On reverse) Printed on back of plate in blue cartouche: (above) BEAUTIES of AMERICA, (within cartouche) LIBRARY /PHILADELPHIA. (below cartouche) J & W RIDGWAY
View Source:	Ridgway’s view of the Philadelphia Library and Surgeons Hall is based on William Birch’s drawing and colored engraving of the same subject published by R. Campbell & Co., No. 30 Chesnut Street, Philadelphia. (AAS collection: Reserve Folio). The print appeared as an illustration in William Birch, The City of Philadelphia  (Bristol, Pa. 1800).  John Ridgway visited Philadelphia from Nov. 4-5, 1822, during his tour of America.
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