Rue de Rivage, Abbeville (from Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen)

Boys’ best known work “Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, and Rouen,” allowed armchair travelers to see many of the sights that were considered mandatory if one had the means to travel. A brilliant technical achievement in lithography, the prints are also infused with charming details of everyday life, giving them a sense of direct observation and authenticity. Of this view of Abbeville, a town in northern France, Boys said, “the wooden houses are dirty and dilapidated; yet it is a place of considerable trade.”