1877 Sitting Bull & U.S. Commission, Kars Fortress, Nast — Dec 8
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · December 8, 1877
Complete Issue + Supplement Pages · New York
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A historically exceptional issue — a six-scene front page on Sitting Bull and the United States Commission, two Thomas Nast Thanksgiving cartoons, a Black family Thanksgiving scene, New York's Penny Restaurant, the Russian-captured Fortress of Kars, and a supplement featuring a reconnaissance near Plevna and richly detailed hunting scenes. One of the most significant Native American history issues in the entire Harper's Weekly run.
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🪶 SITTING BULL & THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION
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👤 FULL FRONT PAGE — "SITTING BULL AND THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION" — SIX SCENES INCLUDING PORTRAITS OF SITTING BULL AND WHITE EAGLE
The full front page — six scenes documenting the extraordinary meeting between Sitting Bull and the United States Commission at Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, on October 17, 1877, just weeks before this issue went to press. After the catastrophic defeat of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn in June 1876, Sitting Bull had led his Hunkpapa Lakota band north across the border into Canada in May 1877, refusing to surrender and seeking sanctuary in British territory. The U.S. government, at Canada's urging, appointed a commission headed by Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry — the same officer who had sent Custer to his fate — to negotiate Sitting Bull's return. Sitting Bull's refusal was absolute: he told the Commission that for sixty-four years his people had been mistreated, that they had not given their country away but had had it taken from them, and that he would not hear any more stories. This six-scene front page, with an inset portrait of Sitting Bull himself and one of White Eagle, is a primary document of one of the most significant encounters in the history of the Lakota Sioux and the American West — the public face of a diplomatic confrontation that defined U.S.-Lakota relations for the next four years, until Sitting Bull's final surrender in 1881. An essential piece for any collection of Native American history, Sioux history, and Western Americana.
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✊ BLACK AMERICANA
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🦃 FULL PAGE — "THE 'SMALL BREEDS' THANKSGIVING — RETURN OF THE FIRST BORN FROM COLLEGE" — BLACK FAMILY
A full-page illustration of a Black family's Thanksgiving celebration, welcoming home their first child to return from college — a warm and significant piece of Black Americana, capturing Black family aspiration and educational achievement in the first post-Reconstruction year. A powerful counterpoint to the political cartoons surrounding it.
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✏️ THOMAS NAST
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🦃 FULL PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "THANKSGIVING ON THE OTHER SIDE — NO. 1"
The first of two full-page Nast Thanksgiving cartoons — a paired set offering Nast's pointed commentary on who in Gilded Age America had reason to give thanks, and who did not.
🦃 FULL PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "THANKSGIVING ON THE OTHER SIDE — NO. 2"
The second of Nast's paired Thanksgiving cartoons — together forming a significant piece of Gilded Age political and social commentary.
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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🍽️ FULL PAGE — "THE PENNY RESTAURANT" — BY W. A. ROGERS — SEVERAL SCENES
A full-page illustration by W. A. Rogers of New York's Penny Restaurant — the cheap eating establishments that fed the city's working poor for a penny a meal. A vivid and significant piece of Gilded Age New York social history and urban poverty documentation.
🏰 FULL PAGE — "THE FORTRESS OF KARS, RECENTLY CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIANS"
A full-page illustration of the Fortress of Kars — the great Armenian highland stronghold captured by Russian forces on November 18, 1877, one of the most strategically significant victories of the Russo-Turkish War's Caucasus campaign. Kars had fallen to Russia in the Crimean War as well, been returned to the Ottomans under the 1856 Treaty of Paris, and was now retaken — an enormous symbolic as well as strategic blow to the Ottoman Empire. A significant piece of Russo-Turkish War and Caucasus history.
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⚔️ THE SUPPLEMENT
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🐎 FULL PAGE — "A RECONNOISSANCE NEAR PLEVNA"
A beautifully rendered full-page illustration of Russian cavalry officers on horseback surveying the terrain outside Plevna — the lead officer pointing into the distance, infantry with rifles visible behind, rolling hills stretching to the horizon. Published just two days before Osman Pasha's historic surrender on December 10, 1877, this atmospheric military scene captures the Russian forces in the final days of the five-month siege. A significant and very frameable piece of Russo-Turkish War illustration.
🦆 MULTI-PANEL PAGE — HUNTING SCENES: SALMON FISHING, MALLARD SHOOTING, AND MORE
A multi-panel supplement page of sporting scenes — salmon fishing, mallard shooting, hunters with dogs in marshland, and additional field sport vignettes. A warm and vivid piece of Victorian sporting and leisure illustration.
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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 8, 1877
City ··············· New York
Item Number ········ 174198
Pages ·············· Complete Issue + 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 148-year-old newsprint
• Flat-shipped with heavy-duty reinforcement to ensure safe arrival of the centerfold and supplement
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind
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🔍 SEO TAGS
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1877 Sitting Bull & U.S. Commission, Kars Fortress, Nast — Dec 8
$76.54