One Hundred and Fifty Years of Georgia — The Graphic, 1883

This historically significant original wood engraving, published in The Graphic in 1883, documents the grand celebrations held in Savannah, Georgia to mark the sesqui-centenary — the 150th anniversary — of the founding of the colony of Georgia by General James Edward Oglethorpe in 1733, one of the most remarkable acts of colonial philanthropy and social vision in the history of British America.

Oglethorpe's founding of Georgia was unlike any other colonial enterprise of the era. Conceived as a refuge for the English poor, for persecuted Protestant refugees from continental Europe, and as a buffer colony protecting the Carolinas from Spanish Florida, Georgia was established on principles of social reform that set it apart from every other British colony in America. Oglethorpe himself led the first settlers to the bluff above the Savannah River in February 1733, laid out the city on his celebrated grid of squares and wards — a plan so elegant and humane that it survives largely intact to this day — and spent the following years defending the young colony against Spanish attack, most famously at the Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742.

The sesqui-centenary celebrations of 1883 were a major occasion for the city and the state, bringing together civic leaders, veterans' organisations, and citizens of Georgia to honour the colony's founding and to reflect on a century and a half of history that had encompassed revolution, statehood, civil war, and reconstruction. Savannah — one of the most beautiful cities in the American South, its famous squares still shaded by the live oaks and Spanish moss that Oglethorpe's plan had preserved — was the natural setting for such a commemoration.

• Publication: The Graphic, London
• Date: 1883
• Subject: The sesqui-centenary celebrations in Savannah, Georgia, marking 150 years since General Oglethorpe's founding of the colony in 1733
• Medium: Original wood engraving
• Size: Approximately 25 × 25 cm (10 × 10 inches)
• Scan: 350 dpi
• Condition: Original antique print — age-toning consistent with period. Any slight tears along the edges of the original print will be repaired using acid-free archival tape. No original prints will be sold where there is damage to the principal image area.

A distinguished and historically rich piece for collectors of American Southern history, Georgia and Savannah history, colonial American history, or Gilded Age civic commemoration — and a significant addition to any collection.