1874 Livingstone's Remains · Thomas Nast · Bengal Famine — Harper's May 16

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · May 16, 1874
Complete Issue + Full Supplement · New York

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A Thomas Nast front page. A double-page Nast centerfold. J.G. Brown's beloved genre paintings rendered as full-page supplement prints. Jacob Wainwright standing vigil over Dr. Livingstone's body. Famine in Bengal. Buffalo hunts on the Missouri. Emigrants leaving the Old World forever. This is a single issue of Harper's Weekly — and it arrives with its original supplement still attached.

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🖼️ THE MAIN ISSUE
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📰 FRONT PAGE — THOMAS NAST
"The Cradle of Liberty Out of Danger." A full front page by Thomas Nast — the greatest political cartoonist America ever produced. The man who gave the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey their lasting forms, and whose cartoons drove Boss Tweed from power. A Nast front page is a collector's piece on its own.

✝️ JACOB WAINWRIGHT AND THE BODY OF DR. LIVINGSTONE
The image that stops you. Dr. David Livingstone — Scottish missionary and explorer who spent thirty years mapping central Africa — died in present-day Zambia on May 1, 1873. His heart was buried beneath a tree by his African attendants. His body was embalmed and carried over one thousand miles to the coast — a nine-month journey — led by Jacob Wainwright, a formerly enslaved man educated by missionaries. Wainwright stood beside the coffin at Westminster Abbey, where Livingstone was buried on April 18, 1874 — just four weeks before this issue went to press. Harper's captured it.

🎨 DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — THOMAS NAST
"A General Blow Up — Dead Asses Kicking a Live Lion." A massive double-page Nast political cartoon at the peak of Grant-era Reconstruction politics. Two Nast pieces in a single issue is exceptional. Nast collectors: this one is for you.

🦬 INDIANS KILLING BUFFALOES IN THE MISSOURI RIVER
Full-page. Plains Indians hunting buffalo from horseback in the river — 1874, one year after the Red River War, the same year Custer's Black Hills expedition ignites the final Plains Wars. The great herds in their last years, rendered for an Eastern audience.

🌾 THE FAMINE IN BENGAL — BRINGING RELIEF TO A STARVING VILLAGE
Two-thirds page. The Bengal famine of 1873–74 killed hundreds of thousands. Harper's covered it with unflinching moral urgency — relief workers arriving at a village of the starving. Extraordinary for collectors of South Asian history and Victorian humanitarian journalism.

🌊 FAREWELL TO THE OLD WORLD
Half-page. Emigrants departing for America — families, bundles, a last look backward. One of the great recurring images of the Gilded Age.

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📄 THE SUPPLEMENT — STILL ATTACHED
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This issue retains its original supplement — a separate section of large-format full-page illustrations that many issues lost over 150 years. The supplement pages are exceptional.

🎨 "OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SHUT YOUR EYES" — J.G. BROWN
A full-page illustration signed by J.G. Brown, 1873. John George Brown was one of the most beloved American genre painters of the Gilded Age, famous for his warm, detailed images of working-class street children — newsboys, dock kids, urchins with dignity. Here, two boys share a moment on a dock or ship deck — one feeding the other, hats tilted, rigging visible behind them. Brown's prints are collected as art objects in their own right. Seeing his signature on the plate is a genuine find.

🕯️ "WAITING" — DOMESTIC INTERIOR SCENE
A full-page supplement illustration of a woman or girl in a beautifully rendered cottage interior — diamond-paned windows, a fireplace, a basket of greenery, the quiet weight of anticipation. The engraving quality is remarkable. Frame-worthy on its own.

🚢 "QUEENSTOWN"
A supplement illustration depicting Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland — the port where transatlantic ships made their final stop before heading to America. Queenstown was the last Irish soil millions of emigrants would ever touch. Given the main issue's "Farewell to the Old World" theme, this piece resonates deeply. Essential for Irish diaspora and emigration history collectors.

📰 THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION
Supplement coverage and advertising for the upcoming 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition — America's first World's Fair — already being planned and promoted. A fascinating document of anticipation.

🏪 PERIOD ADVERTISEMENTS — THE SUPPLEMENT
The supplement carries a rich array of Gilded Age advertising:
· Knabe Pianos — "Grand, Square & Upright"
· Tarrant's Seltzer Aperient — patent medicine
· Decker Bros. Pianos · Geo. A. Prince & Co. Organs & Melodeons
· Wood Brothers Co. Silver Bridal Gifts · The Gorham Company
· Domestic Sewing Machine Co. · Opera Glasses
· Fishermen's Twines and Netting
A complete commercial snapshot of American consumer culture in 1874.

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📋 CONDITION
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Intake photographs of every page — including all supplement pages — are included in this listing. Please review all images carefully. Questions are very welcome, and I'm happy to photograph any specific page or detail on request.

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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· May 16, 1874
City ··············· New York
Pages ·············· Complete · 16 pages + Supplement
Format ············· Illustrated folio newspaper

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🔍 SEO TAGS
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