1859 Brooklyn Fire People Leaping, Genoa & Milan Centerfold, Valentines — Feb 19

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · February 19, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A vivid and varied Antebellum issue — people leaping from a burning building in Brooklyn, a Valentine's Day postman front page, city valentines on the back page, a double-page centerfold of Genoa and Milan, a Georgia fox hunt, a Boston cockfight, abandoned children, and a women's skirt factory. Strong content for Valentine's Day ephemera collectors, Italian history enthusiasts, and Victorian disaster illustration lovers.

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🔥 SHOCKING SCENE — BROOKLYN FIRE
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🔥 ILLUSTRATION — "SHOCKING SCENE AT A FIRE IN BROOKLYN" — PEOPLE LEAPING FROM A BURNING BUILDING
A dramatic illustration of people leaping from the windows of a burning building in Brooklyn — one of the most viscerally compelling disaster illustrations in this run of early Harper's Weekly issues. Victorian fire illustrations showing people jumping from burning buildings were among the most emotionally charged images in illustrated newspaper history, and this "shocking scene" — as Harper's Weekly itself called it — captures the terror of Antebellum urban fire at its most immediate and human. A vivid piece of Brooklyn and New York City fire history.

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❤️ VALENTINE'S DAY — FRONT PAGE AND BACK PAGE
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💌 FRONT PAGE — "ARRIVAL OF THE COUNTRY POSTMAN ON ST. VALENTINE'S MORNING"
A charming front-page illustration of the rural postman arriving with Valentine's Day letters — a warm and very frameable piece of Victorian American holiday and postal history, capturing the anticipation of St. Valentine's Day in the country.

💌 TWO BACK-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS — "CITY VALENTINES"
Two cartoonish back-page illustrations of city valentines — the comic and satirical valentines that were a beloved part of the Victorian Valentine's Day tradition, poking fun at various urban types. Together the front-page country postman and the back-page city valentines make this issue a comprehensive and highly collectible Valentine's Day document.

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🇮🇹 GENOA AND MILAN — DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD
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🏛️ DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF GENOA, ITALY" AND "VIEW OF MILAN"
A double-page centerfold of two of Italy's greatest cities — Genoa's magnificent curved harbor and Milan's grand cityscape — published at a moment of enormous political significance for Italy. In 1859 Italy was on the verge of its Risorgimento — the wars of national unification that would bring Garibaldi, Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel together to create the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Second Italian War of Independence would begin just three months after this issue. A vivid, displayable, and very frameable piece of Italian history and Victorian urban landscape illustration.

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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🦊 ILLUSTRATION — "A FIRE HUNT IN GEORGIA"
An illustration of a fire hunt in Georgia — the dramatic Southern hunting method in which a circle of fire is lit around prey to drive it toward hunters, a vivid piece of Antebellum Southern sporting and rural culture.

🐓 ILLUSTRATION — "A COCK FIGHT AMONG THE ATHENIANS OF BOSTON"
An illustration of a cockfight among the "Athenians of Boston" — a pointed satirical swipe at Boston's intellectual pretensions, the "Athens of America" revealed to have its own blood sport enthusiasts. A vivid and witty piece of Antebellum social satire and Boston history.

👧 ILLUSTRATION — "DISCOVERY OF THREE HALF-STARVED ALMS HOUSE CHILDREN IN THE ROOM OF A HIRED NURSE"
A disturbing illustration of three malnourished children discovered abandoned by a hired nurse — a significant piece of Victorian urban poverty and child welfare history, at a moment when the exploitation of almshouse children by unscrupulous caretakers was a major social reform concern.

👗 ILLUSTRATION — "W.S. & C.H. THOMSON'S SKIRT MANUFACTORY"
An illustration of Thomson's Skirt Manufactory — a companion to the Douglas & Sherwood factory illustration from the January 29 issue, providing a second primary document of women's garment industry labor in Antebellum New York.

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📋 CONDITION
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I photograph every page of every issue so you can inspect the condition closely before purchasing. Please review all images carefully and don't hesitate to ask any questions — I'm happy to provide additional detail or close-up shots of any page, illustration, or area of concern before you buy.

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📌 DETAILS
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Publication ········ Harper's Weekly
Date ··············· February 19, 1859
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Illustrated newspaper, complete in 16 pages

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📦 SHIPPING & PRESERVATION
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• Stored in an acid-free protective bag and flat-shipped in a padded envelope with heavy cardboard reinforcement
• Fully tracked for your peace of mind

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🔍 SEO TAGS
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