1881 Nast Albany Humiliation, Spirit of '76 Supplement, Rochester Cathedral — Jul 16
$44.44
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1881 Nast Albany Humiliation, Spirit of '76 Supplement, Rochester Cathedral — Jul 16
📜 ABOUT THIS PIECE OF HISTORY 📜
This July 16, 1881 issue of Harper's Weekly — complete with its rare supplement — combines Thomas Nast's most biting Albany political commentary, the soaring Gothic grandeur of Rochester Cathedral, two magnificent full-page supplement engravings including a stunning reproduction of the Spirit of '76, the wonder of Donati's Comet, and a richly varied Gilded Age advertising marketplace. For collectors of Thomas Nast, New York political history, Victorian architecture, American patriotic art, astronomical history, and Gilded Age Americana, this is an outstanding issue with an exceptional supplement.
🎨 FULL FRONT PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "OUT SHINING EVERYBODY IN HUMILIATION AT ALBANY"
The full front page delivers a Thomas Nast political cartoon titled "Out Shining Everybody in Humiliation at Albany" — one of Nast's most pointed attacks on the political circus playing out in Albany, where the New York State Legislature had become a national embarrassment through its handling of the Senate patronage battles of the Garfield administration. The resignation of Senators Roscoe Conkling and Thomas Platt over the Garfield-Robertson patronage dispute had thrown New York politics into chaos, and Albany's subsequent failure to elect replacements became a prolonged spectacle of political dysfunction that Nast skewers with characteristic precision and delight. A fully displayable Nast original of great historical significance for collectors of American political cartooning and Garfield administration history.
⛪ DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "ENGLISH CHURCH ARCHITECTURE NO. 16: ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL"
The visual centerpiece of the main issue is a sweeping double-page centerfold devoted to Rochester Cathedral in Kent — one of England's oldest cathedrals, founded in 604 AD and a magnificent blend of Norman and Gothic architecture standing for over fourteen centuries. Rendered in meticulous woodblock detail, this centerfold captures the cathedral's extraordinary nave, massive Norman columns, and accumulated grandeur. The sixteenth in Harper's Weekly's celebrated English church architecture series — a fully displayable architectural masterpiece.
☄️ "DONATI'S COMET"
Several illustrations pertaining to Donati's Comet — the magnificent comet of 1858, one of the most spectacular astronomical events of the 19th century — presented with vivid scientific illustration. A fascinating piece of Victorian astronomical history and popular science illustration.
🏇 "THE WATER JUMP"
A two-thirds page illustration of a water jump — horse and rider at the dramatic moment of clearing one of steeplechasing's most thrilling obstacles. A beautiful and displayable piece of Victorian equestrian illustration.
📰 THE SUPPLEMENT — TWO MASTERPIECE PATRIOTIC ENGRAVINGS & A GILDED AGE MARKETPLACE
This issue includes its complete supplement — a rare survival of exceptional quality and patriotic beauty.
"THE SPIRIT OF '76" — The left supplement page delivers a stunning full-page woodblock engraving after the famous painting by A.F. Cox — the iconic three-figure composition showing the wounded drummer boy, the young fifer with his head thrown back in determined song, and the elder drummer marching together through the smoke and chaos of Revolutionary War battle. One of the most celebrated and emotionally resonant images in American patriotic art, rendered here in the vivid woodblock style of Harper's Weekly's finest engravers. A fully displayable masterpiece of American patriotic illustration and a prized piece for collectors of Revolutionary War art, American patriotic ephemera, and Victorian fine art reproduction.
"MENDING THE OLD FLAG" — The right supplement page delivers a companion full-page engraving of equally beautiful sentiment: a tender domestic scene of a woman and children gathered in a warm interior carefully repairing a worn and beloved American flag spread across their laps. The fireplace glows behind them, the children look on with reverence, and the whole composition breathes the deep Victorian attachment to the national symbol and the sacrifices it represents. Accompanied in the supplement text by a full poem — "Mending the Old Flag" by Miss Cornelia W. Conant — making this a complete literary and visual patriotic experience of rare beauty and emotional depth.
Together these two supplement engravings form one of the finest patriotic pairs in the Harper's Weekly supplement run — displayable individually or together as a matched set of American patriotic art.
The supplement advertising pages are a remarkable Gilded Age marketplace:
Electric Hair Brush — large illustrated engraving of the ornate electric brush
Harper's Periodicals and Harper & Brothers List of New Books
Smoke Marshall's Prepared Cubed Cigarettes
Riker's American Face Powder
Frederick Brown Philadelphia — Brown's Ginger
Kidney-Wort / Congress Water
Joseph Gillott's Steel Pens / The Calligraphic Pens
Beatty's / Noiseless Rotary Fans / Water Motor
Sypher & Co. — Antique Furniture, Clocks, Bronzes
Mrs. S. Allen's World Hair Restorer
Great Astronomical Year — comet illustration
Pall Mall Electric Association, 512 Broadway
Epps's Cocoa / Tamar Indien Grillon / The Orguinette
Lea & Perrins — The Great Sauce of the World
John Duncan's Sons Farm Festivals
Tropic Fruit Laxative
Thomas Carlyle by Moorhouse D. Conway
Minton's Art and Wall Tiles
H.M. Johns Asbestos
The Sea-Shore Cottage / Novel Carpet
Jetter's Lawn Tennis / Zylo Balsam
Agents Wanted / Fancy Dying / Liquid Company's Extract
🔍 CONDITION & TRANSPARENCY 🔍
Completeness: Complete 16-page issue with supplement included, featuring both full-page Spirit of '76 and Mending the Old Flag engravings, the Mending the Old Flag poem text page, and all advertising pages.
Authenticity: Guaranteed original woodblock printing from July 16, 1881 — not a reproduction.
Condition Report: Presents well for its 144-year age. Natural toning to the newsprint consistent with age. The Nast front page, the Rochester Cathedral centerfold, the Spirit of '76 supplement engraving, the Mending the Old Flag illustration, and the Donati's Comet prints are all clear and displayable.
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.
📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION 📦
Housed in an acid-free archival folder with Mylar overlay to protect the 144-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
🏷️ TAGS
1881 Harpers Weekly, Spirit of 76 Patriotic Engraving, Mending the Old Flag Supplement, Thomas Nast Albany Humiliation, Rochester Cathedral Architecture, Donati's Comet Victorian Astronomy, Roscoe Conkling Albany Patronage, American Patriotic Art 1881, Spirit of 76 Harper's Weekly, Cornelia Conant Mending Old Flag, Victorian Church Architecture Centerfold, Garfield Administration Political Crisis, Antique Newspaper 1881, 19th Century Americana, Gilded Age Patriotic Illustration
1881 Nast Albany Humiliation, Spirit of '76 Supplement, Rochester Cathedral — Jul 16
$44.44