Posted 3 years ago
JackieJae
(2 items)
I am hoping to pick your brains a bit and perhaps gain some of your expertise
I have some individual pages (18) from the
Harpers Pictorial of the Civil war. Years vary 1862/63/64
I have had them for like 25 years, they are in pretty darn good shape. They have been stored in acid free paper. I am pretty sure they are not reproduction but looking how to verify
I am looking for suggestions as next steps. Perhaps a venue to donate as I am trying to downsize.
Thank You
Your assistance would be appreciated
I am not an expert...but if they were part of the paper, there should be a page on the back. Here's my piece that I thought was a reproduction until I held it up to the light and could see it was a newspaper..
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/288592-1864-general-grants-campaign-in-virgini
JackieJae, Cool. :-)
dav2no1 is right. If these sheets were originally pages in a book, there might be printed information on both sides.
You might be able to compare yours against editions of the book by contacting libraries that have copies.
The original book was published in 1866:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/harpers-pictorial-history-of-the-civil-war/oclc/17662588
The 1894 edition:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/harpers-pictorial-history-of-the-civil-war/oclc/1046055213
There are also some much more modern facsimiles, but the description gives some background on the original:
*snip*
Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (10th Edition)
by Alfred H. (Alfred Hudson) (1824-1902) Guernsey, Henry Mills Alden, Henry M. Alden (Collaborator), Ferdinand Ossendowski
Hardcover, 836 Pages, Published 1977
From the front flap of this 836 page book: "'Harper's Magazine' was noted for its outstanding coverage of the Civil War. This treasury from 'Harper's' files is the work of Alfred H. Guernsey, who was editor from 1856-1869, and Henry Mills Alden, editor from then until 1919. From 'Fort Sumter Seen from the Rear, at Low Water' to 'Andersonville Burial Grounds,' the words and the engravings combine with an authentic power that only a contemporary account has to offer. 'Harper's' brought the War home to the families of its soldiers with clearly etched drawings of barricades and cannon in the Treasury Building and guns, mattresses and milling crowds in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Readers saw the feeding of the poor in New Orleans, a candlelit scene of East Tennessee Unionists swearing by the flag, the sunset-framed view of Admiral Porter's fleet at the Mouth of the Yazoo, the dramatic occupation of the Alexandria, the lush tropical feeling of Banks' landing at Baton Rouge, the tortuous 'Dragging Artillery over the Mountains' and, further East, 'New York Rioters Hanging a Negro.' There is, in the midst of a fascinating and controversial Introduction, a double-page facsimile of Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence, with inserts and corrections as originally marked. Here are full-page plates showing 'The Position of the Confederate Army When the Surrender Was Announced,' 'The Death of Lincoln.' and the details of his last day, as well as the contents of John Wilkes Booth's diary for those days. 'We have not compiled from other histories,' say the authors, 'but have depended entirely upon the original materials furnished by documents of every description, military and political, no small proportion of which have never been published, but have been obtained from prominent actors on both sides of the struggle. The main outlines of the struggle which we have portrayed, we are confident will stand the test of time and the judgement of posterity."
*snip*
https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780517224229/
Woo hoo! Mr. Peabody's Wayback machine to the rescue with an e-copy of the 1894 edition:
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial02guer/mode/2up
The Chattanooga Campaign on pages 556 and 557 (and there is definitely information printed on both sides of the sheets):
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial02guer/page/556/mode/2up
I couldn't find the other one. Maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right. };-)
Hi again, JackieJae. :-)
I went back to the e-copy of the 1894 edition, and found the second plate showing the destruction of the Fairfield. It's on page 422:
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial02guer/page/422/mode/2up
It's backed by page 421 which has mixed images and text.
Based on what I can see, there probably isn't any difference in pagination between the 1866 and 1894 editions. Like the 1866 edition, the e-copy of the 1894 edition has 836 paginated sheets (there are some blanks in both the front and the back of the book).
However, in looking more closely at the e-copy of the 1894 edition, I noticed that this seems to be volume two only of a two volume edition. After the title page, it picks up at page 399:
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial02guer/page/n5/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial02guer/page/n7/mode/2up
I don't know how that might affect your ability to validate all eighteen pages you have.
The current thinking on handling antique paper seems to be no gloves, but rather clean, bare hands:
https://library.pdx.edu/news/the-proper-handling-of-rare-books-manuscripts/
As to how otherwise to verify the authenticity of your pages, and find a new home for them: I don't know. I am definitely not an expert.
You probably should contact an expert in your local area for more help. Start with your local library.
Good luck. :-)
Thanks to all of you for your time and expertise.
Learning a lot. I have some new directions to follow
JackieJae, You're welcome. :-)
FYI, volume one of the 1894 edition was also digitized:
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial00guer
Plus, volume one has a list of the illustrations in both volumes one and two:
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial00guer/page/n9/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/harperspictorial00guer/page/n11/mode/2up