STEEL ENGRAVING – “THE VALLEY FARM” from the painting by John Constable, engraved by J. C. Bentley, printed in 1883.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 9 1/4” x 7 1/2”, and is matted to 12” x 16” for easy framing.

The Valley Farm!  It sounds like a familiar name in some wooded hilly countryside, where every inhabitant knows everyone else, and household ways are public.  “Top Croft,” and “Talk-o’-th’-Hill,” and Lane End” all saunter about their meadows and their hedgerows.

A shallow stream winds past the house, making a favorite pathway for the cattle on sultry days.  Higher up the valley that stream brawls down rocky channels, an emblem of fretfulness and unrest.  But here it has reached the land of peace and plenty; and it ripples on with a faint murmur, in response to the “ancient melody” of the rustling leaves above.  The front windows look out on an orchard, reddening in the autumnal sun.  And all around, the deep velvety pastures and the golden cornfields rest on a loamy soil fed of old, through a thousand autumns, by falling leaves, and now enriched by three hundred years of labor.  Here human life flows broadly and smoothly, though, it must be confessed, not profoundly, sunning itself in mild prosperity.

The Valley Farm has its representatives all over the world, east, west, north, and south, wherever the English tongue is spoken.  Some of its stalwart sons were amongst Cromwell’s Ironsides; at the Restoration they crossed the Atlantic, and contributed some of the noblest citizens to the New England States.  There is scarcely an Australian colony where its representatives are not found.  And scarcely a year passes but some sun burnt wanderer stops at its wicket to reconnoiter with eager curiosity “the old spot,” and make sure of its identity before he introduces himself as a colonial cousin.  Thus has England blood fructified throughout the world.  And when in distant ages the triumphant spread of the English race becomes the subject of antiquarian inquiry, homes such as the Valley Farm will have a mystic interest, like that which belongs to the sturdy germ which a forest springs.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, and lithographs are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.