A spectacular Mardi Gras poster for the Krewe of Proteus floats for 1896, depicting a wide variety of animals—here dubbed “Dumb Society,”—in imaginative situations. Represented here are twenty floats with titles such as “Presidential Sport,” “At Home…Dancing,” “In the Surf,” and “A Royal Banquet.” One marvelous float entitled “Five O’clock.....
A captivating poster featuring the Krewe of Rex’s “Heavenly Bodies” floats for the 1896 Mardi Gras. One of the oldest participants in Mardi Gras and the source of many of its storied traditions, the Krewe of Rex was founded in 1872 on the occasion of the visit to New Orleans.....
A lovely Mardi Gras poster for the Phunny Phorty Phellows and its numerous extravagant and intricate floats, whose theme for 1896 was “Popular Phads and Phancies.” The Phunny Phorty Phellows krewe first came onto the Mardi Gras scene in 1878. Known for their satirical costumes reflecting contemporary issues, the.....
A captivating and very rare satire of the presidential campaign of 1844, employing the popular metaphor of “Up Salt River” to denote political peril or defeat. Whig nominee Henry Clay and his running mate Theodore Frelinghuysen, in their boat Tariff, lead the other candidates in the race up Salt River.....
![J. H. Richards’ New Oil Compound, a Beautiful Jet-Black Polish[.] Quick and Clean](/pictures/thumb/6041_1.jpg?v=1588873324)
A most animated and colorful advertising print for shoe polish manufactured by J.H. Richards of New York, featuring an African American man in the stereotypical role of the bootblack, who nevertheless comes through as a handsome and compelling figure, exuding vitality. In his prominent placement, jaunty pose, bright red.....
A rare lithograph honoring John Mitchell—here dubbed “The Miner’s Champion”—who served as the President of the United Mine Workers of America from 1898–1908, with vignettes of coal mining scenes, including depictions of child labor. This print consists of central portrait of John Mitchell set against a background of coal.....
A delightful poster depicting the Krewe of Proteus floats for the 1898 Mardi Gras. The Krewe’s theme for the parade was “A Trip to Wonderland,” a broad subject that inspired a marvelous variety of twenty imaginative floats with titles such as “A New Heaven,” “An Arctic Symposium,” “Tiger-Lilies In Battle,”.....
An exceedingly rare pictorial broadside advertising Turner Brothers wines, syrups, and cordials. The broadside was drawn by John Ffooks, who depicts the manufacturing facilities of the Turner Brothers in New York City, Buffalo, and San Francisco in three separate insets. The latter depiction is especially interesting, as it sets.....
A striking bird’s-eye view of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, produced to supply the burgeoning tourist trade of the late 19th century. By the end of the 19th century the Lakes and White Mountain regions of New Hampshire had become major tourist destinations, with a well-developed network of rail and.....
A rare and wonderfully vivid poster depicting Edith Clifford’s remarkable sword-swallowing act. In his Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, Ricky Jay offers perhaps the best and most extensive account of Clifford’s act, making reference to this poster, which is illustrated in color: Houdini states that Mlle. Clifford was.....
A scarce and vivid lithograph illustrating the tensions surrounding the passage of the fugitive slave law. The Library of Congress provides an excellent description of this evocative print: “A satire on the antagonism between Northern abolitionists on the one hand, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster and other supporters.....
A rare and delightful lithograph advertising a nineteenth century Italian weight-lifting champion and performer. Sali is shown here in a central portrait, with three medals pinned to his chest, one of which appears to be dated 1885. Below him are the various weights and clubs used in his act.....
One of the largest and most spectacular bird’s eye views of Boston ever published, with the built environment of the city rendered in meticulous detail. This magnificent view shows the city from an elevated imaginary vantage point in the east, looking toward the Charles River and Cambridge in the.....
John Hill’s 1855 view of Portland, Maine from Cape Elizabeth—perhaps the best known topographic view of the port city—showing in wonderful detail the flourishing conditions there before the Civil War and the Great Fire of 1866. The captivating quality of this view is achieved through its broad foreground area.....
A delightful volume of trial drawings, many of them satirical, for an illustrated alphabet featuring a variety of humorous and imaginative characters complimenting Johnston’s limericks. The volume begins with two calligraphic frontispieces, one consisting of the phrase “The Envelope” graced by an angelic figure holding a brush and canvas.....
An exceptionally rare lithograph depicting The Battle of the Pearl River Forts, also known as the Battle of the Barrier Forts, in late 1856, at the beginning of the Second Opium War. The USS Portsmouth is shown in the center of the river exchanging fire with four forts visible at.....
A scarce chromolithograph depicting the death of Sitting Bull at Standing Rock Reservation on December 15th, 1890, published shortly after the event. This lithograph dramatizes the capture and death of Sitting Bull (1831–1890) as a full-scale battle between the Lakota followers of the Chief, on the one hand, and.....
The first separate printing and first separate facsimile of Lincoln’s famed autobiographical sketch, originally composed in response to a request from his friend Jesse Fell, printed with a brief account by Fell of the circumstances under which it was written and extracts from a few of Lincoln’s speeches. Lincoln.....
A handsome lithograph depicting the Plymouth Cordage Company factory, situated on the waterfront in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Seen here is the company’s complex, including the extensive “ropewalk building” on the right, in which workers assembled great lengths of rope. Freight cars of the Old Colony Line can be seen on.....
An impressive depiction of the ships of the U.S. Navy at the time of the Spanish-American War, a period when the U.S. emerged as a major naval power. When this print was created the U.S. Navy was transforming itself from a force of ironclads guarding the U.S. coast to.....
A large and handsome bird’s eye view of the historic sea-side town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This richly detailed view depicts the city and the surrounding area, as seen from an imaginary elevated vantage point in the northwest looking southeast. In the foreground, various vessels are shown plying the waters.....
A lovely lithographic view of Bellows Falls, Vermont based on daguerreotypes by S. W. Hull. This handsome view shows the town situated on a bend in the Connecticut River, as seen from Table Rock, an elevation in Walpole, New Hampshire on the eastern side of the river. Most of.....
![N.Y. Vols at Petersburg, Va. [and] Winter Camp of the Third Brigade N Y. Vols. . H. Shorey,...](/pictures/thumb/4055_1.jpg?v=1560463502)
A handsome and vividly detailed pair of eyewitness Civil War watercolors executed by a member of the Third Brigade of the New York Volunteers. Edwin H. Shorey of Utica, New York enlisted as a private on October 5th, 1861 and was mustered into Company “B” of the New York 57th.....
![Miss Fanny Kemble, as Julia in The Hunchback]. Thomas Sully, after](/pictures/thumb/3541_1.jpg?v=1560463334)
A scarce and very fine lithographic portrait of Fanny Kemble as Julia in James Sheridan Knowles’ play The Hunchback, after a painting by Thomas Sully. Kemble and her father toured the United States in 1832–1833, immediately following her much acclaimed performance as Julia in London. Both Sully’s painting and this.....
![Originial Illustrations for The Red Napoleon.]. Harold Von Schmidt, John William Thomason...](/pictures/thumb/5233.jpg?v=1563892417)
Six original illustrations for Liberty magazine’s serialized publication of the novel The Red Napoleon (1929), an early fictional account of a full-scale Soviet invasion and attempted conquest of the world. The acclaimed war correspondent, journalist and novelist Floyd Gibbons (1887–1939) first published The Red Napoleon in Liberty magazine, which.....