1877 Winslow Homer Backgammon, Central Park Skating, Nast — Feb 24
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · February 24, 1877
Complete Issue + Supplement Pages · New York
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A premier collectible issue anchored by a Winslow Homer illustration in a double-page Water Color Exhibition centerfold, Central Park skating, two Thomas Nast cartoons, the Dardanelles castles, and a supplement covering Constantinople's constitutional moment, Dalmatian horse racing, and wild bull shooting in the Galápagos. One of the strongest issues of the winter 1877 run.
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🎨 WINSLOW HOMER
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🎨 DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "THE WATER COLOR EXHIBITION, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, NEW YORK — SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE PICTURES" — INCLUDING WINSLOW HOMER'S "BACKGAMMON"
The most significant illustration in the issue — a double-page centerfold documenting the Water Color Exhibition at the National Academy of Design, showing sketches of the exhibited paintings. Among the works reproduced is Winslow Homer's "Backgammon" — a small reproduction of one of Homer's paintings presented to Harper's Weekly's national readership. Homer's work from this period is among the most collected American art of the 19th century, and this centerfold is a primary document of the New York art world at a significant moment in Homer's career. An original print, not a reproduction.
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🖼️ THE FRONT PAGE & NAST
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🐷 FULL FRONT PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "A JEWEL AMONG SWINE"
A Thomas Nast front page — a pointed Gilded Age commentary on the relationship between virtue and corruption, rendered with his characteristic allegorical wit.
✏️ FULL PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "THEY DO EACH OTHER HONOR"
A second full-page Nast cartoon — two Nast pieces in one issue during the turbulent final weeks of the Hayes-Tilden resolution.
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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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⛸️ FULL PAGE — "SKATING IN CENTRAL PARK"
A full-page illustration of ice skating in Central Park — one of the great Victorian leisure scenes of New York City, capturing the Gilded Age's most fashionable winter pastime at the park's famous skating pond. A vivid and very frameable piece of New York City history.
🎭 FULL PAGE — "ST. VALENTINE'S DAY IN MERRIE OLD ENGLAND"
A full-page illustration of Valentine's Day celebrations in England — a warm and festive Victorian seasonal scene.
🏰 TWO HALF PAGES — "THE CASTLE OF EUROPE, DARDANELLES" & "THE CASTLE OF ASIA, DARDANELLES"
A matched pair of half-page illustrations of the twin fortresses guarding the Dardanelles strait — the Castle of Europe and the Castle of Asia, facing each other across the narrow waterway connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. At the heart of the Ottoman crisis of 1877, the Dardanelles was one of the most strategically significant waterways in the world. A significant piece of Ottoman military and geographic history.
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🕌 THE SUPPLEMENT
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📜 TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "HEAVY RAINS AT CONSTANTINOPLE — PEOPLE GOING TO HEAR THE READING OF THE CONSTITUTION"
A striking illustration of Constantinople residents making their way through heavy rain to hear the reading of the new Ottoman constitution — the Constitution of 1876, which Sultan Abdul Hamid II had just promulgated under international pressure. It was one of the first constitutional documents in the Islamic world, though the Sultan would suspend it just two years later in 1878. A historically significant primary document of Ottoman constitutional history.
🐎 TWO-THIRDS DOUBLE-PAGE — "HORSE RACING IN DALMATIA"
A dramatic double-page illustration of horse racing in Dalmatia — the Adriatic coastal region then under Austro-Hungarian rule, capturing a vivid piece of South Slavic sporting culture rarely depicted in the American press.
🐂 TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "WILD BULL SHOOTING IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS"
A dramatic illustration of wild bull hunting in the Galápagos Islands — a remarkable and unusual piece of Pacific natural history, documenting the feral cattle that had been introduced to the islands by whalers and sailors and which were hunted by passing ships for provisions.
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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 ··············· February 24, 1877
City ··············· New York
Item Number ········ 174116
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 Winslow Homer Backgammon, Central Park Skating, Nast — Feb 24
$65.43