Mexico City from San Cosme, Currier and Ives lithograph

Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) based in New York City from 1834 to 1907. The prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand-colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints" and advertised its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people". The firm of Currier and Ives was in operation from 1857-1907.