A superb c.1880's full color wove lithograph designed by W. C. Miles entitled, "The Up and Down Line."
Scarce in the trade, it is an incredibly detailed allegorical image utilizing the "up" and "down" line as the pathway to Heaven and Hell respectively, likely a direct modernization of John Bunyan's immortal allegory, Pilgrim's Progress.
On the map are Temperance Clubs and Coffee Houses on the way "up" and saloons and public houses on the way "down." Street signs are littered with Scripture, both promises and warnings, etc. Wealth and idolatry on one line; generosity and the "House of Glory" on the other, etc.
Published London, 1888. Image size 19.5 x 15.5 inches; 21 x 24.5 in faux birds-eye frame. Colors generally good with minor fading and some generalized toning. A few tears at extremities. Frame nicked, but attractive. We trace one example at auction, offered six years ago in New York, where it fetched $600.00
