THE SECOND PRINT ENGRAVED AND PRINTED IN CANADA, after John Painter. ‘In August of 1792 a new monthly, the ‘Quebec Magazine’, appeared. It was printed at Quebec by Samuel Neilson (1771-93), publisher of the ‘Quebec Gazette’ and the ‘Quebec Almanack’. The introduction of illustration was also new and was mentioned in the prospectus: “With the first number will be given an elegant engraving, being a view of the City of Quebec from the opposite side of the St. Lawrence: And others will be added occasionally.” This handsome offer to subscribers was possibly for a separately issued print. The print is four times the size of the magazine’s 130 x 210 page; however, all impressions examined here have been folded both horizontally and vertically. Although engraved in a dry, linear style, the view of the city is both descriptive and forceful, and is suitable for framing. The engraver, J.G. Hochstetter, was active in Quebec by 1791 … Although the artist’s name, J. Painter, sounds like a pseudonym, there was a John Painter in Quebec in the 1790s who was a merchant and a fairly prominent member of the community.’ (M. Allodi, loc.cit.)

An extremely rare eighteenth century Canadian imprint and only the second view to by published there. The ‘Quebec Magazine’ was a bilingual work which contained the usual eighteenth-century mix of ‘useful and entertaining repository of science, morals, history, politics, etc. particularly adapted for the use of British America’. M. Allodi, ‘Printmaking in Canada. The earliest Views and Portraits’, Toronto, 1980, pp.4-5, no.2.