1877 USS Huron Shipwreck Kitty Hawk, Artificial Chicken Hatching, Nast — Dec 15
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · December 15, 1877
Complete Issue + Supplement Pages · New York
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A varied and historically charged end-of-year issue — a Thomas Nast political cartoon, the wreck of the USS Huron near Kitty Hawk, a remarkable illustration of artificial chicken hatching, a French political portrait, and a supplement with a portrait of Tsar Alexander II. Strong content for collectors of American naval history, North Carolina maritime history, and Gilded Age technology.
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🚢 USS HURON — SHIPWRECK AT KITTY HAWK
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⚓ HALF PAGE — "THE UNITED STATES STEAMER 'HURON,' LOST NEAR KITTY HAWK, NORTH CAROLINA"
A significant and timely illustration of the USS Huron — the Navy gunboat that wrecked off Nags Head, North Carolina on November 24, 1877, with the loss of 98 men, just three weeks before this issue went to press. Commander George P. Ryan had sailed close to the Outer Banks coast to avoid the Gulf Stream; dense fog, heavy seas, and a compass error drove the ship aground at 1:30 a.m., only 200 yards from the beach. The nearest life-saving station was closed — congressional funding kept it shut until December — meaning no help was available despite the station standing barely two miles away. The tragedy became a national scandal: the federal government was savagely criticized for its penny-pinching on the Life-Saving Service, and Nast himself would memorialize the outrage in a December 29 Harper's Weekly cartoon captioned "Death on Economy." The twin disasters of the Huron and the Metropolis (wrecked two months later) directly prompted Congress to dramatically expand the U.S. Life-Saving Service — the predecessor of the modern Coast Guard. Commander Ryan, whose name also appears in this issue, went down with his ship. The wreck is today on the National Register of Historic Places and designated North Carolina's first Historic Shipwreck Preserve. A primary document of a major American naval tragedy and a pivotal moment in the history of American maritime safety.
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✏️ THE FRONT PAGE
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✏️ FULL FRONT PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "C.O.D."
A Thomas Nast front-page political cartoon — "C.O.D." (Collect on Delivery), a pointed commentary on the political debts and obligations of the Hayes administration as 1877 drew to a close.
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🐣 INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🐣 FULL PAGE — "ARTIFICIAL CHICKEN HATCHING"
A remarkable full-page illustration of artificial incubation technology for hatching chickens — a fascinating piece of Gilded Age agricultural and technological history. Large-scale artificial incubation was being developed and demonstrated during the 1870s as part of the era's fascination with applying industrial principles to farming, and this illustration captures that moment of agricultural innovation.
🍽️ ONE-THIRD PAGE — "BREAKFAST FOR THE PRISONERS"
A one-third page illustration of prisoners being served breakfast — a piece of Gilded Age prison and social history.
🌧️ TWO-THIRDS DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "RAINY WEATHER"
A two-thirds double-page genre illustration of rainy weather scenes — a warm and atmospheric piece of Victorian domestic and street life.
🛍️ TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "THE LAST PURCHASE"
A two-thirds page illustration of a last-minute Christmas purchase — a charming and festive piece of Victorian shopping and holiday culture.
🇫🇷 QUARTER-PAGE PORTRAIT — "M. JULES GRÉVY, PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH CHAMBER"
A portrait of Jules Grévy — at this moment the President of the French Chamber of Deputies and the head of the Republican Party following the death of Thiers in September 1877, in the thick of the constitutional crisis that would end with President Mac-Mahon's resignation in January 1879. Grévy would succeed Mac-Mahon as President of France and serve until 1887. A significant piece of French Third Republic political history.
⚓ QUARTER-PAGE PORTRAIT — "THE LATE COMMANDER GEORGE P. RYAN"
A memorial portrait of Commander George P. Ryan — the commanding officer of the USS Huron who went down with his ship. Companion to the Huron illustration in this same issue, this portrait is a primary document of one of the most significant naval disasters of the Gilded Age.
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👑 THE SUPPLEMENT
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👑 TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "ALEXANDER II, CZAR OF RUSSIA"
A two-thirds page portrait of Tsar Alexander II — published as the Russo-Turkish War was approaching its conclusion and Alexander's armies were advancing toward Constantinople after the fall of Plevna. Alexander II would be assassinated by a bomb in St. Petersburg in March 1881, making this portrait a document of the final years of his reign.
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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 15, 1877
City ··············· New York
Item Number ········ 174200
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 USS Huron Shipwreck Kitty Hawk, Artificial Chicken Hatching, Nast — Dec 15
$36.93