1859 John Brown Harpers Ferry Portraits, Elizabeth Blackwell First Woman Doctor — Nov 5

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · November 5, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A historically exceptional issue combining two of the most significant stories of 1859 — extensive John Brown coverage with his portrait and the wounded prisoners, and an article on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. John Brown and Elizabeth Blackwell in the same issue: two of the boldest challenges to the American status quo of the antebellum era, both documented in the most widely read illustrated newspaper in the country.

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⚔️ JOHN BROWN — PORTRAITS AND HARPERS FERRY
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💥 HALF FRONT PAGE — "GENERAL VIEW OF HARPER'S FERRY, SHOWING THE BRIDGE, ARMORY, ADJACENT HILLS, ETC."
A dramatic half front-page illustration of Harpers Ferry — the strategic Virginia armory town where John Brown launched his raid on October 16-18, 1859, seizing the federal armory in hopes of sparking a massive slave rebellion. The view showing the bridge, armory, and surrounding hills captures the exact geography of one of the most consequential events in American history — published just three weeks after the raid, while Brown was awaiting trial in Charles Town. A primary document of the site of the event that made the Civil War inevitable.

👤 TWO QUARTER PAGES — "PORTRAIT OF OSSAWATTOMIE BROWN" AND "BROWN, HIS SON, AND ANOTHER OF THE OUTLAWS AWAITING EXAMINATION"
Two quarter-page portraits of John Brown — known as "Ossawattomie Brown" after the Kansas town where he had fought pro-slavery forces in 1856 — and of Brown with his son and a fellow raider awaiting examination after their capture. These portraits of Brown in custody are primary documents of the man Frederick Douglass called "the man who of all Americans has in this entrenchment done most to honor God and serve humanity." Brown had been captured by Colonel Robert E. Lee and was now awaiting his trial, conviction, and execution on December 2, 1859. His hanging would be witnessed by Stonewall Jackson, attended by the Virginia Military Institute cadets, and mourned across the North.

🏥 HALF PAGE — "THE GUARD ROOM WITH THE WOUNDED PRISONERS"
A half-page illustration of the guard room where Brown and his wounded raiders were held after their capture — one of the most intimate primary documents of the immediate aftermath of the Harpers Ferry raid, showing the human reality of the event that divided the nation.

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👩‍⚕️ ELIZABETH BLACKWELL — FIRST WOMAN PHYSICIAN
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🩺 ARTICLE — "FEMALE PHYSICIANS" — ABOUT MISS ELIZABETH BLACKWELL
An article on Elizabeth Blackwell — the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, graduating first in her class from Geneva Medical College in New York in 1849, and the first woman on the British Medical Register. In 1859 Blackwell had recently founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children — the first hospital staffed entirely by women — and was fighting for women's right to medical education and practice against fierce opposition from the male medical establishment. The Harper's Weekly article on "Female Physicians" centered on Blackwell is a primary document of the women's rights movement in one of its most practical and contested arenas — the right of women to become doctors. Blackwell's achievements would inspire generations of women physicians; today the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal of the American Medical Women's Association is the highest honor in American women's medicine. A significant piece of women's history, medical history, and American social reform history — and a remarkable editorial choice to place alongside John Brown coverage in the same issue.

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📚 CHARLES DICKENS — "A TALE OF TWO CITIES" CONTINUES
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✍️ CONTINUING SERIALIZATION — "A TALE OF TWO CITIES" BY CHARLES DICKENS
A continuing installment of A Tale of Two Cities — the novel about sacrifice, justice, and the violence of revolution, resonating powerfully alongside both the John Brown and Elizabeth Blackwell content in this issue.

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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 ··············· November 5, 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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