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The Emancipation Proclamation
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Two black teamsters duel on the front page; the text of the Emancipation Proclamation is printed on page 2; the execution of 38 Indian murderers at Mankato, Minnesota on page 4, Thomas Nast centerfold: “The War in the West, the War in the Border States.”

Also, illustrations: Winslow Homer, “A Shell in the Rebel Trenches”; a map of Mississippi; the “Reception of the Authorities of New Orleans by General Butler”; “General Bank’s Forces Landing at Baton Rouge, Louisiana”; “Brigadier General James Blunt”; “Brigadier General John M’Neil”; and a cartoon of a black man celebrating his emancipation by declaring himself no longer part of a farm’s livestock, but instead a man.

[EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION]. Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, January 17, 1863. 16 pp., complete, disbound.
Image shown is a sample. To request an image of the copy currently available please email us at info@sethkaller.com

Inventory #H 1-17-1863       SOLD — please inquire about other items

Harper’s Weekly was founded by Fletcher Harper in 1857. It soon became one of the nation’s most influential papers, and its images are central to any visual interpretation of nineteenth-century America.

Printed in New York, Harper’s covered the key events of the day, including politics and elections, the Civil War, sports, literature and arts. Each issue has at least ten engravings, as well as political cartoons, editorial essays, “Humors of the Day,” and fascinating advertisements. Harper’s are printed on rag paper—different in weight and quality than the pulp paper used for today’s news.

Thomas Nast, an early contributor, became Harper’s staff artist in 1862. During the Civil War, and through the 1880s, Nast’s images and reports were famous. His scathing cartoons brought an end to the notoriously corrupt New York “Tweed Ring” in 1872, and he created the Democratic Donkey, the Republican Elephant, and the modern image of Santa Claus.

Winslow Homer contributed to Harper’s beginning in 1858. Homer’s The Sharpshooter is arguably the most famous Civil War image, illustrating the first war in which the technology of impersonal killing became truly effective. Homer contributed drawings to Harper’s until 1875.

Reproductions of some issues are available online and in museum gift shops, but we sell only authentic original printings.