Harper’s Weekly – September 2, 1871 | Thomas Nast Cartoon, Wilkie Collins Portrait, Tammany Ring, “Summer Palaces” | Complete w/ Supplement

Original issue of Harper’s Weekly: Journal of Civilization, dated September 2, 1871 (Vol. XV, No. 796), with its supplement included. This issue captures the politics, literature, and social debates of Reconstruction-era America with a mix of satire, portraits, and frontier/immigrant life.

📖 Highlights & Illustrations:

Front Page: Illustrated Farm Ballads by Will Carleton.

Thomas Nast Political Cartoons:

The Rich Growing Richer, The Poor Growing Poorer – economic inequality satire.

Bringing the Thing Home – exposing the corruption of the Tammany Ring.

The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things – depicting Irish immigrants (reflecting period nativist sentiment).


Social & Public Health Satire: Our Honored Guest – Cholera welcomed to New York.

Full-Page & Feature Engravings:

The Rivals: Grandmas and Grandmas (family scene).

Summer Palaces of the Tammany Ring – doublepage views of Tweed-linked mansions in Connecticut.

Walter Scott Memorials – engravings of Abbotsford, Edinburgh, and sites connected to Scott’s life.

Emigrants Departing for the West – supplement illustration of immigrant experience.

At the Seashore – Fashion (large scene from supplement).

Hurrying for the Train – comic series of vignettes on daily life.


Portraits & Literature:

Full-page portrait of Wilkie Collins with engraved signature.

Launch of his novel Poor Miss Finch (Part I).

Serialized fiction: Lord Kilgobbin by Charles Lever; A Terrible Temptation by Charles Reade.


Other Features: “Wedding-Rings,” “Scientific Intelligence,” “Humors of the Day,” and a wide range of advertising content.


📝 Condition:

Complete issue with supplement, approx. 11” x 16”.

Binding holes at spine from prior volume, light toning and edge wear, a few archival repairs (see photos).

Pages are clean and illustrations remain sharp and bold.


⭐ Why Collect This Issue?
This issue stands out for its multiple Thomas Nast political satires, the full-page Wilkie Collins portrait launching Poor Miss Finch, and the doublepage spread on Boss Tweed’s Tammany Ring “Summer Palaces.” Together with powerful social commentary (immigrants, cholera, railroads), it provides a vivid snapshot of Gilded Age politics, literature, and daily life.