1874 Buffalo Hide Hunter, Bessemer Steamship, Mormon Temple, Nast — Dec 12
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · December 12, 1874
Complete Issue + Supplement Pages · New York
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A remarkable issue spanning the American West, Victorian engineering, religious controversy, and Gilded Age political commentary — all in one complete issue with supplement. The front page alone — a cowboy having just skinned a buffalo — is one of the most visceral images of the great buffalo slaughter that would define and doom the Great Plains within a decade.
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🦬 THE FRONT PAGE
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🤠 FULL FRONT PAGE — "SLAUGHTERED FOR THE HIDE"
The entire front page is devoted to a single powerful image: a cowboy having just skinned a buffalo, the carcass lying before him. By 1874 the great buffalo herds of the Great Plains were being decimated at an staggering rate — an estimated 5,000 buffalo were killed daily during the height of the slaughter. This image was published at the very moment of that catastrophe and stands as a primary document of one of the great environmental disasters in American history. A significant and highly collectible piece of Western Americana.
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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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✏️ FULL PAGE — THOMAS NAST CARTOON: "THE RISING OF THE DEAD"
A full-page Thomas Nast political cartoon — the era's most feared and celebrated editorial cartoonist at his Gilded Age peak.
⛪ HALF PAGE — "QUARRYING STONE FOR THE NEW MORMON TEMPLE"
A nice half-page illustration documenting the construction of the Salt Lake Temple — then well underway and not to be completed until 1893. A significant piece of Mormon history and American religious history, capturing the temple's construction at a time of intense national controversy over polygamy and Utah statehood.
🌿 DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "ONE TOUCH OF NATURE"
The great centerfold spread — a double-page illustration with the evocative title drawn from Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. A large-format visual narrative spanning the full open breadth of the newspaper.
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🚢 THE SUPPLEMENT — THE BESSEMER CHANNEL STEAM-SHIP
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The supplement is devoted to one of the most talked-about engineering marvels of 1874 — the Bessemer Channel Steam-Ship, a revolutionary vessel designed to eliminate seasickness on the English Channel crossing through a gyroscopically-stabilized swinging saloon. Three major illustrations:
⚙️ FULL PAGE — "THE SWINGING SALOON"
A spectacular cutaway cross-section of the ship showing the revolutionary gyroscopic saloon — a luxuriously appointed interior cabin mounted on gimbals designed to remain level regardless of the ship's motion. One of the great Victorian engineering illustrations.
🛳️ DOUBLE PAGE — "THE DINING SALOON" & "GAINSBOROUGH FULL STEAM"
The left panel shows the ornate interior of the Bessemer's grand dining saloon in lavish detail; the right panel shows the ship underway at full steam on the open sea. A magnificent double-page spread of Victorian maritime engineering and luxury.
The Bessemer Ship was one of the great technological spectacles of its era — widely covered in the press and eagerly anticipated by a public that suffered terribly on rough Channel crossings. It launched in 1875 and was ultimately a commercial failure, but remains a beloved curiosity of Victorian engineering history.
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📰 ADDITIONAL CONTENT
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⛪ SUPPLEMENT — "THE VATICAN DECREES: THEIR BEARING ON CIVIL ALLEGIANCE"
A substantial supplement article on the burning Church-and-State controversy of the Gilded Age — the question of whether Catholic Americans owed primary allegiance to the Pope or to the United States government. A significant piece of American religious and political history.
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📋 CONDITION
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I photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and don't hesitate to ask any questions — I'm happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you buy.
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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· December 12, 1874
City ··············· New York
Item Number ········ 173886
Pages ·············· Complete · 16 pages + Supplement
Format ············· Illustrated folio newspaper
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📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION
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• Housed in an acid-free archival folder with Mylar overlay to protect the 151-year-old newsprint
• Flat-shipped with heavy-duty reinforcement to ensure safe arrival of the supplement pages
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind
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🔍 SEO TAGS
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1874 Buffalo Hide Hunter, Bessemer Steamship, Mormon Temple, Nast — Dec 12
$43.21