1859 Winsl Homer "Apple Bee," John Brown with Black Man, Prince of Wales Nov 26

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · November 26, 1859
Complete Issue · New York

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A collector's issue combining Winslow Homer's celebrated "Fall Games — The Apple Bee" with a back-page illustration of John Brown in conversation with a Black man — one of the most charged images in the antebellum Harper's Weekly run — published just six days before Brown's execution on December 2. The eighth Homer illustration in this extraordinary 1859 run, alongside the Prince of Wales at Oxford and a continuing Dickens serialization.

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🎨 WINSLOW HOMER — "FALL GAMES — THE APPLE BEE"
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🍎 FULL PAGE — "FALL GAMES — THE APPLE BEE" — BY WINSLOW HOMER
A full-page wood engraving by Winslow Homer — his eighth illustration in Harper's Weekly in 1859, and one of his most warmly received early works. "The Apple Bee" depicts the beloved New England autumn tradition of the apple paring bee — a social gathering in which neighbors assembled to peel and core apples for cider and preserves, the work providing cover for courtship, games, and community fellowship. Homer's rendering captures the warmth, humor, and social texture of rural New England life with the observational precision and human warmth that would define his career. The Apple Bee is among the most charming and sought-after of Homer's early Harper's Weekly works — a vivid, warm, and very frameable piece of American rural and seasonal life. An original print in a complete original issue — not a reproduction — of an early work by one of the greatest American painters of the 19th century.

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✊ JOHN BROWN WITH A BLACK MAN
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📰 BACK PAGE — "A PREMATURE MOVEMENT" — JOHN BROWN TALKING TO A BLACK MAN
A back-page cartoon or illustration titled "A Premature Movement" — showing John Brown in conversation with a Black man, published just six days before Brown's execution on December 2, 1859. The image is a primary document of the fraught intersection of Brown's abolitionist mission and Black American agency at the most charged moment of the antebellum era. Brown's raid had included five Black men in his raiding party and was premised on the willingness of enslaved people to rise and join him — the "premature movement" of the title reflecting the mainstream critique that Brown had acted before the nation was ready. A significant and historically charged piece of Black American history and John Brown history.

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👑 THE PRINCE OF WALES AT OXFORD
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👑 HALF PAGE — "THE ROYAL ROAD TO LEARNING — THE PRINCE OF WALES AT OXFORD"
A half-page illustration of the Prince of Wales — the future King Edward VII — at Oxford University, where he had enrolled at Christ Church College in 1859. A vivid piece of Victorian royal history capturing the future king at his studies, on the eve of his celebrated 1860 tour of America that would make him the most popular visitor in American history since Lafayette.

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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🐘 FULL PAGE — "THE FALL GAMES — THE ELEPHANT"
A full-page companion illustration to Homer's Apple Bee — "The Elephant," another fall games scene that may have been intended as a companion piece. A vivid piece of Victorian American autumn and outdoor leisure culture.

🚂 ILLUSTRATION — "EN ROUTE FOR HARPER'S FERRY"
A brief illustration with text of troops or investigators en route to Harpers Ferry — a piece of the ongoing John Brown coverage that dominated the final weeks of 1859.

✍️ CONTINUING SERIALIZATION — "A TALE OF TWO CITIES" BY CHARLES DICKENS
A continuing installment of A Tale of Two Cities — now in its very final installments, the novel of revolution and sacrifice reaching its climax alongside John Brown's impending execution.

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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 26, 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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