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Catalog: Details
McCormick Reaper Company, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way With McCormick Reapers In The Van, circa 1890 - 1900. Colored lithograph 26" x 36" plus ample margins. Mounted on linen.
A few expertly repaired tears, else Fine. SOLD
An unsigned poster with beautiful rich color. The design is based on a fresco in the U.S. Capitol
by Emmanuel G. Leutz, The Advance of Civilization to the West. Leutz was a history painter best
known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.
The phrase "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Is Way" is from a 1752 poem by George
Berkley, Bishop of Cloyne (Ireland), titled On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in
America. Both the phrase and the original image were well known and embraced by 19th century
Americans who no doubt linked them to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
Cyrus McCormick followed the westward path, moving his business from Virginia to Cincinnati
in 1845 and then to Chicago in 1847. The first McCormick Reaper factory was built that year
near the mouth of the Chicago River.
A rare piece, this poster may have been intended for display during the Columbian Exposition of
1893. It certainly pre-dates 1902 when McCormick Reaper merged with the William Deering
Company and the Plano Company to form International Harvester (now Navistar).
How to place an order and shipping details.
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Established 1976 
