1874 Football in Japan · Indian Boys Breaking Pony · Nast — Harper's Weekly May 2

1874 Football in Japan · Indian Boys Breaking Pony · Nast — Harper's Weekly May 2

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🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · May 2, 1874
Complete Issue + Supplement Pages · New York

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Native American boys training a pony on the open Plains. Thomas Nast using a tombstone as a political weapon. May Day in New York City. Monaco and its famous casino. A home missionary on the frontier. And a supplement with one of the most extraordinary images in this entire run: a full double-page spread of football being played in Japan — one of the earliest illustrations of the sport in Asia ever published in an American newspaper — alongside Frenzeny and Tavernier's magnificent multi-scene survey of the Texas cattle trade in nine vignettes.

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🖼️ THE MAIN ISSUE
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🐎 FULL PAGE — "INDIAN BOYS BREAKING A PONY"
A full-page illustration of young Native American boys working with a horse — the training and breaking of ponies being one of the central skills of Plains Indian life and culture. This is not a conflict scene or a spectacle: it is a quiet documentation of youth, skill, and the deep relationship between Plains people and their horses. The horse had transformed Plains cultures after its reintroduction in the 16th century, and by 1874 — the final years before the great Plains Wars destroyed that world — the bond between Plains communities and their horses was at its most complete and refined. For Plains Indian history collectors, Native American culture researchers, equestrian history enthusiasts, and Western Americana buffs.

🎨 FULL PAGE — THOMAS NAST: "ROBBING THE GRAVE, AND SHIELDING THEMSELVES BEHIND THE TOMBSTONE"
A full-page Nast political cartoon — one of his most pointed attacks on politicians who wave the bloody memory of the Civil War dead to shield their own corruption and inaction. The "tombstone" politics of 1874 Republicanism: using the sacrifice of Union soldiers as a political club while failing to protect the rights those soldiers died for. Particularly pointed in the year following Charles Sumner's death, when the Civil Rights Bill Sumner had championed was still not law. For Nast collectors, Reconstruction era political history researchers, and Civil War memory historians.

🌸 FULL PAGE — "THE FIRST OF MAY IN NEW YORK"
May Day in New York City — the traditional moving day when leases expired across the city, and thousands of families packed their belongings and changed apartments simultaneously, the streets full of furniture carts, children, and chaos. In 1874 New York, May 1st was one of the great annual civic spectacles. A full-page illustration documenting this distinctly New York tradition. For New York City history collectors and urban history enthusiasts.

🎰 HALF PAGE — "MONACO — THE FASHIONABLE GAMBLING TOWN OF ITALY"
The casino at Monaco — already the most famous gambling destination in Europe — depicted for American readers fascinated by European vice and elegance. The principality of Monaco and its casino (actually opened in 1863) was a byword for Gilded Age luxury and risk. For Monaco history collectors, European travel history enthusiasts, and Victorian gambling culture buffs.

⛪ FRONT PAGE — "A HOME MISSIONARY"
A front-page illustration of a missionary at work in an American home setting — the domestic mission movement that brought religious instruction and charitable service to the rural poor and frontier communities. Victorian religious charity and outreach rendered in Harper's characteristic warm documentary style.

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📄 THE SUPPLEMENT PAGES
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⚽ DOUBLE-PAGE — "FOOT-BALL IN JAPAN"
The supplement's extraordinary centerpiece — and one of the most remarkable illustrations in this entire run of Harper's Weekly. A large double-page spread showing a football match being played in Japan, with a crowd of spectators watching. Association football (soccer) had been introduced to Japan by British and other Western visitors in the early 1870s; this is among the earliest illustrations of the sport in Japan ever published in an American newspaper. The chaotic, energetic scene captures the game in full motion — players leaping, the ball in flight, spectators in traditional Japanese dress alongside Westernized figures. A detailed article accompanies the illustration, describing football's reception in Japan and the reactions of Japanese spectators. For Japanese history collectors, football/soccer history enthusiasts, Meiji era Japan researchers, sports history buffs, and anyone fascinated by the global spread of sport in the Victorian age — this page is a primary document.

🤠 DOUBLE-PAGE — "THE TEXAS CATTLE TRADE" — DRAWN BY FRENZENY AND TAVERNIER
Nine scenes across a magnificent double-page spread by Paul Frenzeny and Jules Tavernier — Harper's finest team of Western illustrators, both trained artists who traveled the frontier to sketch from life. The Texas cattle trade at the height of the Chisholm Trail era, documented in nine vivid vignettes:

· **Moonlit Night on the Trail** — the herd at rest under a full moon
· **Butchers' Shop in Galveston** — the Texas beef market at the end of the line
· **Abilene** — the great Kansas cattle town at the heart of the Northern trade
· **Longhorns** — a large central scene of Texas longhorns on the move, massive horns swinging, the primal spectacle of the drives
· **Calling the Night Guard** — cowboys roused from sleep for their watch
· **Rounding Up Cattle** — the roundup in progress on the open range
· **Branding** — the iron at work, defining ownership
· **Over the Red River** — the herd crossing the boundary between Texas and Indian Territory, heading north

Together these nine scenes form the most complete visual document of the Texas cattle trade in Harper's Weekly. For Texas history collectors, cattle drive enthusiasts, Chisholm Trail researchers, Western Americana buffs, and Frenzeny & Tavernier art collectors.

🍺 "THE TEXAS CATTLE TALE" — SALOON SCENE
A supplement humorous narrative illustration — a large barrel-filled saloon or cantina scene in Texas or Mexico, cowboys and characters in comic confrontation. The lighter side of the cattle trade documented alongside the serious.

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📋 PERIOD ADVERTISEMENTS
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· Decker Bros. Grand, Square & Upright Pianos
· Wood Brothers Co. — Carriages and Road Wagons (latest designs, superior workmanship)
· R. Hoe & Co. — Printing Presses
· Bradley Pray & Co. — New York
· Knabe Grand, Square & Upright Pianos
· Grand Union Hotel, Saratoga Springs — Will Open June 1st (Breslin, Purcell & Co.)
· Hadley's Ice Cream Freezer
· Lawrence Brothers & Co. — Art Store
· Fishermen's Twines and Netting
· Domestic Sewing Machine 1874
· "Ninety-Three" by Victor Hugo — Harper & Brothers (book advertisement)
· $6 Worth for 50¢ — Harper & Brothers Catalogue
· Whist — card game advertisement

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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 2, 1874
City ··············· New York
Pages ·············· Complete · 16 pages + Supplement
Format ············· Illustrated folio newspaper

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