A Prospect on the River Manyfold at Wetton Mill after Thomas Smith of Derby

 One of the earliest purchases for the Enlightenment! project was back in 2009 when we bought an engraving after Thomas Smith of Derby (1721 -1767) of A Prospect on the River Manyfold at Wetton Mill. This print was published as part of a set in July 1743 titled ‘Eight of the most extraordinary Prospects in the Mountainous Parts of Derbyshire and Staffordshire commonly called the Peak and Moorlands’.

They were popular engravings and smaller version soon appeared in magazines.
The engravings were all after work by Thomas Smith and were engraved by a couple of different engravers including Vivares and Granville.

The eight views are:

1. A Prospect in Dove-Dale

2. A prospect in the upper part of Dove Dale

3. A Prospect on the River Manyfold, at Wetton-Mill

4. A Prospect of Matlock-Bath &c from the Lover’s Walk

5. A Prospect of that beautiful cascade before Matlock Bath

6. A Prospect on the River Wie, in Monsal-Dale

7. A Prospect of the Chee Tor &c on the River Wie

8. A Prospect of the rocks & that vast cavern at Castleton call’d Peak-hole

We have four engravings from this run plus a couple of others after Thomas Smith including this one of Dunnington Cliff, that we also bought in 2009. This was published in 1745 in ‘A set of four views in Derbyshire’.