Blackville Prints

From Harper's Weekly. Wood engravings. Folio. New York: 1874-1880. Very good condition, except as noted.

While the "Darktown" prints by Currier & Ives are the most famous images of post-bellum African Americans, more people probably saw this series in Harper's Weekly. With its impressive circulation around the United States, Harper's reached more than 10,000 subscribers with each issue. To white subscribers, the satires were humorous. To modern viewers, they reveal the racism with which America has always struggled, perhaps never so keenly as during Reconstruction. Illustrators who contributed to this series were Sol Eytinge, Jr. (1833-1905), William Ludwell Sheppard (1833-1912), S.C. McCutcheon (fl. in New York 1880-1883) and "Sphinx."

W. L. Sheppard. "The Christmas Dinner Safe." 3 January 1874.
The text just above the image captions the scene: "Mr. Sheppard's humourous and graphic picture suggests its own story so well that the reader' imagination can easily fill in the missing links - the tramp through the snowy woods to the trap, the too eager haste of the younger party, the disappointed hopes of a good Christmas dinner, the sulky march homeward, and the shrill scolding at the cabin when the unlucky sportsmen return empty-handed. The Virginia negroes, we may add, call the rabbit 'he-yar,' and the trap a 'gum.'"$45
Sol Eytinge. "Who Done Send Dat Walentine Chile? -- Who?" 21 February 1874. $50
Sol Eytinge. "Who Struck de Fustest." 13 June 1874. $45
"Hi! Abe. Come Under de Brellar! Does Yer Want to Sunstruck Yerself? De Fremoniter's Gone Up More'n a Foot!" 17 July 1875. $45
"The Colored Creedmoor. -- 'Just Watch de Captin of dis Team Knock de Bull's-eye Black and Blue!'" 28 August 1875. $45
W.L. Sheppard. "'Gret King! What I Gwine To Do Now?'" 11 July 1874. $45
Sol Eytinge Jun. "The First Ulster in Blackville - Consternation and Flight of the Inhabitants." [An "Ulster" is a type of long, loose overcoat in fashion in the 1870s-1880s]. 18 March 1876. $55
Sphinx. "Christmas Eve-Getting Ready for Santa Claus." 30 December 1876. $45

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