John Banvard (1815 - 1891) was a famous American painter. He is best known for his panoramic views of the Mississippi River Valley. The description of his panor

“Hearteningly strange . . . Collins exhumes little-known figures [and] recounts their perversely inspiring battles against the more logical ways of the world.

Even in the decades before Mark Twain enthralled the world with his evocative representations of the Mississippi, the river played an essential role in American

The panorama is primarily a visual medium, but a variety of print matter mediated its viewing; adverts, reviews, handbills and a descriptive programme accompani