Stuart & Peterson, Burlington, New Jersey, along the Delaware River --- NOVA CAESAREA

Press ZOOM to see the big version.

Treasures from THE PHILADELPHIA / DELAWARE VALLEY COLLECTION at The Willing Mind.  By exclusive arrangement with The Grand Review.  Print size 24 x 18, and consciously formatted to work with a 24 x 18 frame, or custom framed as you see fit.

Burlington, New Jersey, is a fascinating town on the Delaware River with more history packed into its small size than damned near any town in the whole state.

Once the capital of what was known as West Jersey in the 1600s, the state even called Nova Caesarea for a time during this period, Burlington, or the City of Burlington, predates Pennsylvania entirely as far as being an official Crown Colony.  It was a Quaker city before there was a Philadelphia, when looking west from the banks of the Delaware was staring into the uncharted wilderness.  

Burlington was the major port on the Delaware, though soon eclipsed by Philadelphia to the south, and a great deal of the commerce for the whole middle of the state came through there,  In time, it was the center of the Camden & Amboy Railroad line, one of the earliest in the nation, with that same railed now serving as the path of the new RiverLine light rail.

We moved there from the Northern Liberties area of Philadelphia and bought several historically significant properties, one next to the Burlington Meeting House where I lived with my beloved and young sons and had my first proper studio space on the first floor.  There is another print in our collection showing the Meeting House, AND the very building next door.  They share a driveway.

Iron pipe manufacturing was a speciality of the region throughout the 19th Century, and Burlington had two major players in the game.  One was Stuart & Peterson right on the river in town, and we rebuilt this early graphic digitally, rethinking the layout of the copy, but leaving out nothing.

Stuart & Peterson branched out into all sorts of other metal manufacturing, as can be seen in the boisterous signage on the building.  I'm still doing my research, but I believe the major toy maker Chein grew out of or cleaved itself from S & P.

For all Burlington fans.  For all Delaware River fans.  For all New Jersey history fans.  For all you all. enjoy!

_______________________________________________________________

SHIPPING
All prints are shipped in a sturdy mailing tube for $8, which covers postage, tube and S & H.

BUYING MORE THAN ONE PRINT?  Add a second print or any number thereafter of this or any other prints in our catalog and shipping is still just $8, total!!!

International shipping is available and reasonable. Please contact us for details.

A NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.

Every print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps.  The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands.  That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here.  See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”

There is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.

There is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.

Then there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road.  I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle!  So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.

This dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.