1898 Remington Bronze Statuettes, Christmas Klondike & West Point, Puerto Rico Cockfight — Dec 17
$38.88
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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · December 17, 1898
Complete Issue · New York
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A magnificent 44-page Christmas double issue — the largest and most lavishly illustrated of the year — featuring two Frederic Remington bronze statuettes, a color double-page centerfold, Christmas in the Klondike gold fields, the West Point Christmas Hop, a Puerto Rico cockfight, torpedo boats in winter quarters at the Navy Yard, and multiple color illustrations. One of the finest and most varied issues of the entire 1898 run, with content spanning art history, Western Americana, military tradition, Caribbean culture, and Gold Rush life.
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🎨 FREDERIC REMINGTON — BRONZE STATUETTES
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🏇 HALF PAGE — "TWO BRONZE STATUETTES BY FREDERIC REMINGTON"
A half-page illustration documenting two bronze statuettes by Frederic Remington — the most celebrated American sculptor and illustrator of the American West, whose bronzes command prices in the millions of dollars at auction today. Remington had begun casting bronzes in 1895 with "The Bronco Buster," which became one of the most iconic sculptures in American art history; by December 1898 he was producing a series of Western bronzes that were being eagerly documented by the press. This illustration — published in the same year Remington covered the Spanish-American War for Harper's Weekly and produced the celebrated San Juan Hill centerfold — is a primary document of Remington's sculptural output at one of the most productive periods of his career. Remington bronzes regularly sell at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams for $500,000 to several million dollars; this original Harper's Weekly documentation of two of his works is a significant piece of American art history.
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⛏️ CHRISTMAS IN THE KLONDIKE
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⛏️ FULL PAGE — "CHRISTMAS IN THE KLONDIKE — HOLIDAY GREETINGS BETWEEN AN 'EL DORADO KING' AND A 'DOG PUNCHER' ON THE MAIN STREET OF DAWSON"
A full-page illustration of Christmas Day in Dawson City, Yukon — the boomtown at the heart of the Klondike Gold Rush — showing the social extremes of Gold Rush society: an "El Dorado King" (one of the fabulously wealthy claim holders on Eldorado Creek) exchanging holiday greetings with a "Dog Puncher" (a dog-sled driver at the bottom of the social hierarchy) on Dawson's main street in the dead of the subarctic winter. This single illustration captures the entire human drama of the Klondike Gold Rush — the extreme wealth, extreme poverty, and extraordinary camaraderie of one of history's great adventure stories, celebrated on Christmas Day at -40°F in the most remote boom town on earth. A vivid and very collectible piece of Klondike Gold Rush history.
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🎖️ WEST POINT — THE CHRISTMAS HOP
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💃 FULL PAGE — "HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES AT THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT — THE CHRISTMAS HOP"
A full-page illustration of the Christmas Hop at West Point — the formal holiday dance that was one of the great social traditions of the Military Academy, when cadets in dress uniform danced with young women from the finest families in the Hudson Valley and beyond. A vivid and very frameable piece of West Point history and Gilded Age military social culture.
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🐓 CHRISTMAS IN PUERTO RICO
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🐓 FULL PAGE — "CHRISTMAS IN PUERTO RICO — A COCK FIGHT AT CAGUAS"
A full-page illustration of a cockfight at Caguas, Puerto Rico on Christmas Day — one of the most vivid and culturally significant pieces of Puerto Rican tradition in the issue. Cockfighting was deeply embedded in Puerto Rican culture and had been a Christmas tradition for centuries; Caguas, in the island's central highlands, was one of the most important cockfighting centers on the island. This illustration — published just months after American sovereignty was established over Puerto Rico — captures a Puerto Rican Christmas tradition that American administrators would find both fascinating and controversial. A significant piece of Puerto Rican cultural history.
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🎨 COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS & THE CENTERFOLD
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🎨 DOUBLE-PAGE COLOR CENTERFOLD — "SMALL GAME BETTER THAN NONE"
A color double-page centerfold — one of the most striking features of this expanded 44-page Christmas issue. Color printing in 1898 illustrated newspapers was expensive, rare, and sought-after; a full color centerfold in Harper's Weekly marks this as a premium Christmas production. A vivid and very frameable piece of Victorian color illustration.
🎨 SEVERAL COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS — "THE GREAT STAIRCASE AT LANDOVER HALL"
Several color illustrations for the story "The Great Staircase at Landover Hall" — lavish Victorian Gothic fiction illustration at its most atmospheric, rendered in color for the Christmas issue.
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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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📬 FULL FRONT PAGE — "A CHRISTMAS BOX FROM HOME"
A warm and evocative full front-page Christmas illustration of a Christmas box arriving from home — a beloved Victorian holiday theme capturing the joy of gifts from distant loved ones, resonant with thousands of American soldiers still deployed overseas in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
🎭 FULL PAGE — "THE HERO OF THE OCCASION"
A full-page Christmas genre illustration — a warm and humorous piece of Victorian holiday social life.
🐻 FULL PAGE — "THE MERRY CHRISTMAS OF THE DANCING BEAR AND HIS SCHEMING MASTER"
A full-page illustration of a dancing bear and his master at Christmas — a charming piece of Victorian street entertainment and holiday culture.
🎯 TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "CHRISTMAS MORNING — THE CHALLENGE"
A two-thirds page Christmas morning illustration — a vivid piece of Victorian holiday genre art.
🚀 HALF PAGE — "DECEMBER SCENES AT THE NAVY YARD — PREPARING THE TORPEDO BOATS FOR WINTER QUARTERS"
A half-page illustration of torpedo boats being winterized at the Navy Yard — a significant piece of American naval history in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish-American War, as the victorious fleet prepared for peacetime maintenance.
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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 17, 1898
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Illustrated newspaper, complete in 44 pages
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📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION
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• Stored in an acid-free protective bag and flat-shipped in a padded envelope with heavy cardboard reinforcement
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind
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🔍 SEO TAGS
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1898 Remington Bronze Statuettes, Christmas Klondike & West Point, Puerto Rico Cockfight — Dec 17
$38.88