AMERICAN METHODISM. 1872

Washington, D.C.: B.B. Russell, 1872. Broadside print, 14" x 19" [by sight], in a contemporary frame. Twenty-Nine oval portraits of American Methodist preachers, including African-American preacher Francis Burns. A central vignette of "Pioneer Preacher" John Wesley riding a horse into a small village where rural citizens await him in front of a log cabin. Light dusting and minor spotting, Beneath the illustration are the names of the artist, lithographer and printer. Very Good.

Reverend Francis Burns was the "first Black bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Elected in 1858, he served as a missionary bishop in Liberia. His rise to ministry and the episcopate happened against a background of American racism, colonialism, and imperialism. His early life was spent in Greene County, NY. His family was poor, and at the age of four he was indentured to a farmer. At age eight, he was indentured to the Atwood family. Mrs. Atwood was a Methodist class leader. She permitted Francis to attend school with her children during the winter season" [article on Burns at online UMC web site].
From the Smithsonian's description: "This black and white print contains twenty-nine small oval portraits of leaders of American Methodists and five vignettes. The vignettes are of John Wesley rescued from a burning building; Wesley preaching on the tombstone of his father; Old John Street Church, New York; Tremont Street Methodist Church, Boston; and Pioneer Preacher (the central vignette). . . This print was produced by the artist L. Hollis and lithographer John Chester Buttre. John Chester Buttre (1821-1893) was an American steel-plate engraver, lithographer and publisher. He first studied drawing in his hometown of Auburn, New York, and moved to New York City in 1841. He produced thousands of engraved portraits of American political and military figures, which he published in a three-volume work entitled The American Portrait Gallery. Nothing is known about artist L. Hollis."
OCLC 499459544 [1- AAS]. Copies also noted at Smithsonian and Library of Congress.