1859 Abolitionists & Blacks in Council, Humboldt Obituary, Italy War Map May 28

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · May 28, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A historically rich and varied Antebellum issue — a full-page illustration of an abolitionist council with Black attendees denouncing the Union, the obituary of Alexander von Humboldt with portrait and autograph, a double-page war map of northern Italy, and a continuing Dickens serialization. A primary document of Antebellum abolitionist culture and Black political life, published two years before the Civil War.

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✊ ABOLITIONISTS & BLACK ATTENDEES IN COUNCIL
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🎤 FULL PAGE — "YE ABOLITIONISTS IN COUNCIL — YE ORATOR OF YE DAY DENOUNCING YE UNION, MAY, 1859" — WITH MANY BLACK FIGURES IN THE AUDIENCE
A full-page illustration of an abolitionist meeting — a preacher-orator denouncing the Union before a crowd that includes many Black attendees — published in May 1859, just two years before the Civil War and at the height of the abolitionist movement's most radical phase. In 1859 the abolitionist movement was reaching a fever pitch: John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was just five months away, the Dred Scott decision had outraged the North, and radical abolitionists were openly calling for the dissolution of the Union rather than continued compromise with slaveholders. Harper's Weekly's comic framing of this scene — using archaic "Ye" language to distance it as satire — reflects the mainstream Northern ambivalence about the more radical abolitionists. But the presence of many Black figures in the audience is historically significant: this is a primary document of Black political participation in the abolitionist movement at its most intense moment. A significant piece of Black American history, abolitionist history, and Antebellum political history.

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🌿 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT — OBITUARY
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🌍 FRONT PAGE — "THE LATE BARON HUMBOLDT" — PORTRAIT, STUDY ILLUSTRATION, AND AUTOGRAPH
A front-page memorial to Alexander von Humboldt — the greatest scientist and explorer of the 19th century, who died on May 6, 1859 at age 89, just three weeks before this issue. Humboldt had transformed humanity's understanding of the natural world through his scientific expeditions to South America and Central Asia, his monumental work Cosmos — the first attempt to describe the entire physical universe in a single work — and his discovery of the Humboldt Current. Charles Darwin credited him as one of his primary inspirations. His death prompted mourning across the Atlantic world, and his portrait, study, and autograph in this Harper's Weekly memorial capture the passing of the last great Enlightenment polymath. A significant piece of scientific and intellectual history.

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🗺️ THE ITALIAN WAR MAP
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🗺️ DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "A NEW MAP OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ITALY, SHOWING THE SEAT OF WAR, POSITION OF THE ARMIES, ETC."
A double-page war map of northern and central Italy — showing the positions of the Austro-Hungarian, Piedmontese, and French armies during the Second Italian War of Independence. Published in late May 1859, this map captures the campaign at its climactic moment — the Battle of Magenta had been fought on June 4 (just days away as this issue went to press), and the Battle of Solferino would follow on June 24, the bloodiest battle since Waterloo and the inspiration for Henri Dunant's founding of the Red Cross. A significant piece of Italian Risorgimento history and Victorian military cartography.

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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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✍️ CONTINUING SERIALIZATION — "A TALE OF TWO CITIES" BY CHARLES DICKENS
A continuing installment of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities — the novel whose themes of revolution and sacrifice resonate powerfully alongside both the Italian war and the American abolitionist content in this same issue.

⛵ HALF PAGE — "THE BRITISH YACHT 'URSULA'"
A half-page illustration of the British yacht Ursula — a vivid piece of Victorian yachting and maritime 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 ··············· May 28, 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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