Birch's Philadelphia, plate by plate, with the same view today.
The engravings William Russell Birch and his son published in 1800, each presented with what stands on the spot now. The series is the closest thing we have to a photograph of the capital city of the 1790s.
Commentary and modern photographs by S. Robert Teitelman, copyright S. Robert Teitelman, from Birch's Views of Philadelphia, 200th anniversary edition, 2000. The Birch engravings and Birch's own text, published in 1800, are in the public domain.
