CHARLOTTESVILLE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA JEFFERSON, 1855 Art Print Engraving RARE!

Description: THE VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY Charlotteville Artist: unknown ____________ Engraver: T. Poppel NOTE: The title in the box above is also in the white border below this scene. PRINT DATE: This engraving was printed circa 1855; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 6 x 8 inches, actual scene size is 5 by 8 inches. PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock paper. SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receive priority mail, international orders receive regular air mail unless otherwise asked for. Full payment details will be in our email after auction close. We pack properly to protect your item! PRINT DESCRIPTION: The University of Virginia, situated at Charlottesville in that state, is one of those monuments which draw down upon the memory of a truly great man the blessings of all future generations. Thomas Jefferson, the friend of Washington, and his successor in the office of president of the United States, sacrificed to the establishment of this university the greater part of his fortune; and the close of his life, after his retirement from public office, was almost entirely spent in promoting this favorite object. The exterior of this university, which has been thought by European connoisseurs to be a model for such buildings, bears the stamp of the highly cultivated and noble mind by which it was created. It was opened in 1819, and is governed by nine professors and a rector. Last year the students numbered about five hundred. It is frequently thought in Europe, that the prosperity of the United States of America is in too great a degree of a merely material nature. That so great a proportion of time and labor are bestowed upon the acquisition of wealth, that the cultivation of the mind and the higher sciences and the arts, was almost entirely neglected. This is a great mistake! So far is it from being true, that we must confess that in her school system, America has overtaken Europe. You may find in France, nay, even in Prussia, in the western provinces, thousands of villages in which there is no school, and tens of thousands of children growing up without any instruction whatever. Such a thing in the United States is entirely out of the question. It is acknowledged that no country in the world has done more for elementary schools than the United States; but the reproach is still cast upon America, that she does very little for the higher branches of learning—much less than the prosperity of the nation and the wealth of the people would give us reason to anticipate. Let us see how far this reproach is well founded. At the end of last year, there were in the United States eighty-one colleges, with seven hundred and forty-nine professors, by whom were taught the dead languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew,) as well as the modern tongues, mathematics, moral philosophy, astronomy, geography, history, &c., &c. There were thirty-four thousand students. There are thirteen universities, with two hundred and sixty professors, and about five thousand students. There are thirty-seven theological seminaries, with two hundred and thirty professors, and above three thousand students. Of the latter institutions seven are Roman Catholic, and the other thirty are Protestant. There are twenty-six medical colleges, with one hundred and eighty-four professors, and more than five thousand students. None of these institutions is without a library, although, of course, there are nowhere libraries like some of those in Germany, in which literary treasures have been accumulating for centuries. Although but a very small proportion of these institutions can date back to the year 1700, and probably not one half of them to the year 1800, some of them can already show from 30,000 to 50,000 volumes, and the aggregate of the whole would amount to more than 1,000,000 of volumes. Compare this state of things with that in Prussia. This would not be unfair towards Europe, for each of these countries contains the same population, and no state in Europe has, in latter times, done more for schools than Prussia. How can we longer talk about the scanty provision made by republicans for the support of literature? We must remember that the United States is not a full-grown nation, but is yet growing, and in an unperfect state. We must call to mind that at least one third of her high schools flourish in places where forty years ago nothing could be seen but forests. We must look at the liberality by which all these institutions are established, and the patriotism by which the new are built up and the older ones maintained. When we have done so, the idle censure of the European would cease, and he would be forced to admit, that what North America has done in so short a period is more than could have been expected, and is deserving of universal admiration. The simultaneous establishment of so many literary institutions in the United States, has of late years afforded to many celebrated European professors situations suited to their wishes, which they had before not been able to obtain. This completes the assemblage which emigrates from the eastern to the western world. Commerce, the mechanic arts, science, and literature are going there: what will remain for old Europe if fair America goes on to pluck the last jewel from her crown ! The parts which are acted in the great drama of human existence may be reversed in position: America may become the centre of civilization, and Europe degenerate into a barbarian land. Then will open a new era, from which a new history will take its rise, and all the new stars of the European theatre will act upon the stage in the valleys of the Mississippi. THIS IS AN ACTUAL ENGRAVING PRINTED IN THE 1840s! A GREAT VIEW OF A FAMOUS LANDSCAPE, CITYSCAPE, ARCHITECTURE PLACE IN THE WORLD !

Price: 189.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2025-02-06T19:28:39.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD