1859 W Homer "March Winds" & "April Showers" Smithsonian, Pike's Peak Apr 2

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · April 2, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A collector's issue of exceptional significance — two Winslow Homer prints from the same issue, "March Winds" and "April Showers," held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Clark Art Institute, and Cornell University's Johnson Museum of Art; the Desjardins Canal railway disaster front page; and the first published map of the Pike's Peak route. Three consecutive issues now containing Homer works held in major museum collections — this is the third Homer in four weeks of Harper's Weekly.

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🎨 WINSLOW HOMER — TWO PRINTS IN ONE ISSUE
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🌬️ TWO NEARLY HALF-PAGE PRINTS — "MARCH WINDS" AND "APRIL SHOWERS" — BY WINSLOW HOMER
Two wood engravings by Winslow Homer — published together in the same issue as a paired seasonal set, each measuring approximately 6×9 inches, cataloged as Beam Nos. 53 and 54 in Philip C. Beam's authoritative reference "Winslow Homer's Magazine Engravings" (1979), the definitive scholarly catalog of Homer's periodical work. These two prints are held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Accession No. 1996.63.32, the Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L., Caryl A., and James A. Austrian), the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (Accession No. 95.071.011). They are also sold as collectible fine art reproductions by Meisterdrucke and actively traded by major print dealers including the Philadelphia Print Shop.

"March Winds" and "April Showers" are among Homer's earliest published work — he was 22 years old when they appeared, still working from Boston before his move to New York City in the fall of 1859. They are the second and third Homer works in four consecutive Harper's Weekly issues following "Skating at Boston" (March 12), demonstrating the extraordinary concentration of early Homer material in this specific 1859 run. An original print — not a reproduction — of two museum-held works by one of the greatest American painters of the 19th century, published in a single issue for double the collecting value.

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🚂 THE DESJARDINS CANAL TRAIN DISASTER
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💥 FRONT PAGE — "THE TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN CANADA"
A front-page illustration of the Great Western Railway Desjardins Canal bridge disaster near Hamilton, Ontario — one of the worst railway accidents in Canadian history, in which a Great Western Railway passenger train plunged through a weakened bridge into the frozen Desjardins Canal on March 12, 1857, killing 59 of the 100 people aboard. The disaster led to major reforms in railway bridge inspection in Canada and remains one of the defining events in Canadian railway history. A significant piece of Canadian transportation and disaster history.

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🏔️ MAP OF THE ROUTE TO PIKE'S PEAK
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🗺️ "MAP OF THE ROUTE TO PIKE'S PEAK"
A map of the route to Pike's Peak — published at the height of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859, when tens of thousands of prospectors were streaming west to Colorado under the slogan "Pike's Peak or Bust." Gold had been discovered near present-day Denver in the summer of 1858, and by spring 1859 the rush was in full flood. This Harper's Weekly map — one of the primary navigational guides published for prospectors — is a significant and rare piece of Colorado Gold Rush history, American westward expansion, and cartographic history.

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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 ··············· April 2, 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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