FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE. DON JUAN.
Colburn, Zerah (American, active mid-19th century):
[ca. 1850s]. A very fine drawing, pen and black ink over pencil. Image 25 1/2 x 41 inches, wide margins. Ink ruled border. Calligraphic title and mechanical specifications within upper image. Signed lower left: "Z. Colburn, Del." Uniform light age-toning with unobtrusive light scattered foxing. Excellent condition. Impressive carved hardwood frame and gilt liner, French mat. A large and visually impressive schematic drawing of the locomotive engine, Don Juan, stopped on a section of track, probably prepared to illustrate a private report for an American railroad company. This finely detailed drawing of the Don Juan is fully seven times the size, and more sharply delineated, than Colburn's well known railroad lithographs, executed in 1858 by Julius Bien and found in THE PERMANENT WAY AND COAL BURNING LOCOMOTIVES..., a comparative economic and technological analysis of British and European railway systems, with their American counterparts. The mechanical specifications of the powerful Don Juan are finely inked above its smokestacks: "DIAM of CYLINDER, 18 in. STROKE of PISTON, 20 in. DIAM. of DRIVERS, 42 in. WT. of ENGINES, 24 tons. WATER room in boiler, 96 cubic ft. STEAM do. 48 cubic ft. CAPACITY of do. 718 gallons. TUBE SURFACE, 928 sq. ft. FIRE BOX do. 60 sq. ft. AREA OF GRATE, 11-1/12 sq. ft." A rare and eminently displayable piece of 19th-century American railroadiana, this is the first Colburn drawing we have encountered, and a remarkable example of virtuosity in graphics. See Zerah Colburn & Alexander L. Holley, THE PERMANENT WAY AND COAL-BURNING LOCOMOTIVE BOILERS OF EUROPEAN RAILWAYS WITH A COMPARISON OF THE WORKING ECONOMY OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LINES, AND THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH IMPROVEMENT MUST PROCEED (New York, 1858), passim. Illustrated with fifty-one engraved plates; the frontispiece, of the passenger engine, Canute, is very much in the style of the present drawing.
(Item ID: WRCAM24951) $5,000.00