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Boston: Bufford’s Print Publishing House, 1864. Tinted lithograph, 19.625” x 16.25” plus title and margins. CONDITION: Very good, occasional wear and light soiling to edges and margins, Japanese tissue repair to .5” tear at lower-right edge; light foxing to verso.

A scarce allegorical print for the 1864 presidential campaign, showing Democratic running-mates George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton lifting a battered Lady Liberty to her feet, and illustrating their conflicting visions for the end of the Civil War.

Shedding a tear for the injured Nation, Lady Liberty is supported on the left by Pendleton and, on the right, lifted under the arm by McClellan, who holds his saber aloft in a gesture of determination. Lady Liberty bleeds from wounds in both her arms, and holds a snapped sword in her left hand while broken shackles hang from her right wrist. Her crown—and the American flag—are in tatters at her feet. Behind and to the right of McClellan lie the ravages of war—two fallen soldiers and two buildings, one apparently a church, burning in the distance—while on the left, behind Pendleton, a man returns to the plow, the stars and stripes waving serenely in front of the Capitol building in Washington. (In actuality the dome, which was under construction during the war, would not be completed until 1866.)

Three years into the Civil War and facing another presidential election, the Democratic Party was split between those who wished to negotiate a peace settlement with the South (mostly Copperheads from the South and Midwest), and those who favored continuing the war effort. A compromise was reached with the nomination of former Union General George B. McClellan (1878–1881) for President and Ohio Representative George H. Pendleton (1825–1889) for Vice President. McClellan, despite his contempt for Lincoln, vowed to continue the war effort, while Pendleton, a Copperhead, advocated for a settlement with the South. Depicting their conflicting visions for the end of the conflict, this print unites the candidates through their shared care for Lady Liberty.

The print is signed in the image by Joseph E. Baker (1837–1914), “a lithographer and cartoonist, perhaps best known for his 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln drawn after his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate. Baker was born in about 1837 in Bangor, Maine, and moved to Boston by 1857, where he apprenticed at John H. Bufford’s lithographic firm. He became Bufford’s principal illustrator of sheet music. During the Civil War, Baker drew many political cartoons, primarily of the war itself. Baker worked for Bufford until Bufford’s death in 1870, while also working for other Boston firms. For Forbes and Company, Baker drew many playbills and advertisements. He eventually joined the firm of Armstrong & Company. He remained active until 1888 and died in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1914” (“Joseph E. Baker”).

John Henry Bufford (1810–1870) was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and in 1829—as lithography was gaining a place in American commercial printing—apprenticed as a lithographer with the Pendleton firm in Boston. In 1835 Bufford started his own firm in New York, printing book illustrations, sheet music covers, city views, and copies of popular artworks. He also produced prints depicting disastrous fires, and worked as an artist for the Endicott and Currier firms in New York. Upon returning to Boston in 1840, he, his brother-in-law B. W. Thayer, and John E. Moody bought out the Pendleton establishment (owned by Thomas Moore since 1836), and founded B. W. Thayer & Co. Bufford worked as the primary artist and general manager of the new company, which became one of the first color lithographers in the U.S., producing work from several stones as early as 1843 or 1844. When Thayer left the company in 1845, the firm became J. H. Bufford & Co., one of the most important lithographers in antebellum America. Bufford’s work encompassed city views, posters, book illustrations, sheet music covers, and prints for framing. Early in their careers, both Winslow Homer and Francis D’Avignon worked for Bufford. In 1865, Bufford’s sons Frank and John Henry Jr. became partners in his company. Following their father’s death in 1870, the brothers continued operating the firm until the early 1900s.

OCLC records just two holdings, at AAS and UC Santa Barbara.

A rare and curious campaign print from the contentious presidential election of 1864.

REFERENCES: “Joseph E. Baker” at Politics in Graphic Detail by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania online.

Item #9400

Price: $2,500.00