1906 Richard Rummell View of Princeton University, New Jersey

This is a scarce 1906 photogravure Richard Rummell view of Princeton University. Overlooking campus from a point high above today's Rockefeller College and Nassau Street, Alexander Hall and the Maclean House appear immediately on the left. On the right, the first recognizable buildings are Blair and Buyers Halls and the Blair Arch. The old Halstead Observatory appears in front of Blair Hall, which is where Joline Hall stands today. Witherspoon Hall appears immediately behind the Blair Arch in this view. Edwards Hall is partially blocked by Witherspoon Hall and Edwards does the same thing to Dod Hall. Both Little Hall and the Dillon Gym appear to the right of Edwards and Dod, and Princeton's railroad station adorns the right border with several horse-drawn carriages waiting for passengers. Returning to Alexander Hall at the center, Stanhope Hall is blocked by trees and Nassau Hall with its iconic belfry. East Payne Hall and Chancellor Green, then Princeton's library, are to the left of Nassau Hall. Dodge Hall appears to the right of East Payne Hall and McCosh Hall is illustrated to the left and behind both Didge Hall and East Payne Hall. 1879 Hall is recognizable in the background on the left.

Rummell University Views

Rummell was an American landscape artist known for his drawings of American universities. At the turn of the century, Littig and Company commissioned Rummell to prepare watercolors of some of the nation's most prestigious colleges. From these watercolors, copper-plates were engraved, and a limited number of engravings were issued. Most of Rummell's university views are strikingly similar in style, reveling the entire campus in panoramic splendor. The views are uniformly issued from an altitude of about 300 feet, suggesting the Rummell most likely worked form a balloon.

In more recent times, Arader Galleries acquired many of the original printing plates for Rummell's college views and issued restrikes, but the original printings, as here, have become extremely rare. This is only the second time we have handled Rummell's large-format view of Princeton.