1896 Plantation Christmas Centerfold, All-American Football, Columbia Uni Dec 26

🗞️ HARPER'S WEEKLY · December 26, 1896
Complete Issue · New York

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A varied and historically interesting Christmas issue — a double-page centerfold of a pre-war plantation Christmas, the All-American football eleven of 1896, the new Columbia University building, new U.S. Navy torpedo craft, Emma Eames as Elsa in Lohengrin, and Father Knickerbocker's Christmas. Strong content for Southern history collectors, college football enthusiasts, and New York City architectural history buffs.

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🏡 "A PLANTATION CHRISTMAS 'FORE DE WAR'"
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🎄 DOUBLE-PAGE CENTERFOLD — "A PLANTATION CHRISTMAS ''FORE DE WAR'"
A double-page centerfold depicting a Christmas scene on an antebellum Southern plantation — published in the post-Reconstruction era when the "Lost Cause" mythology of the Old South was being actively constructed and romanticized in American popular culture. The title "'Fore De War" — using the dialect spelling common to the era — places the scene before the Civil War and reflects the nostalgic, sentimentalized view of plantation life that characterized much of late 19th-century Southern-themed illustration. This centerfold is a complex primary document of American racial and cultural history — at once a vivid piece of holiday illustration and a reflection of the "Lost Cause" romanticism that was reshaping how white Americans remembered and depicted slavery. Published just thirty-one years after the end of the Civil War, at the height of Jim Crow's consolidation, this centerfold captures the contested memory of the antebellum South at one of its most revealing moments. A significant piece of American social and cultural history.

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🏈 THE ALL-AMERICAN FOOTBALL ELEVEN OF 1896
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🏈 TWO-THIRDS PAGE — "THE ALL AMERICAN ELEVEN OF 1896" — PORTRAITS
A two-thirds page of portraits of the All-American football team of 1896 — the annual selection of the finest college football players in the country, a tradition that had begun in 1889 with Walter Camp's selections and was already the most prestigious honor in college athletics. In 1896 the All-American team was drawn primarily from the Ivy League — Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Penn dominated college football — and these portraits represent the finest players of the golden age of amateur college football. A significant piece of early American college football history and the All-American tradition.

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🏛️ THE NEW COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BUILDING
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🏛️ FULL PAGE — "THE NEW BUILDING FOR COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK"
A full-page illustration of the new Columbia University building — documenting the construction of McKim, Mead & White's magnificent new Morningside Heights campus, to which Columbia had relocated from its cramped downtown site. The new campus — whose Low Library would become one of the great landmarks of American academic architecture — was under construction in 1896, and this illustration is a primary document of Columbia at the moment of its great physical transformation. A significant piece of New York City and American educational architectural history.

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🖼️ INSIDE THE ISSUE
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🗽 FULL FRONT PAGE — "FATHER KNICKERBOCKER'S CHRISTMAS"
A full front-page Christmas illustration of Father Knickerbocker — the personification of Old New York Dutch heritage, here celebrating Christmas in a warm and festive piece of New York City holiday culture.

🎵 HALF PAGE — "EMMA EAMES AS ELSA IN 'LOHENGRIN'"
A half-page portrait of Emma Eames — the celebrated American soprano who was one of the stars of the Metropolitan Opera, shown in her celebrated role as Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin. A significant piece of American operatic history and Gilded Age musical culture.

🚢 FULL PAGE — "THE NEW TORPEDO CRAFT OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY"
A full-page illustration of new U.S. Navy torpedo boats — the fast, small, and revolutionary new naval vessels that were transforming naval warfare in the 1890s, two years before they would serve in the Spanish-American War. A significant piece of American naval modernization history.

🎪 FULL PAGE — "SCENES AT THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' FAIR, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK CITY"
A full-page illustration of the Commercial Travellers' Fair at Madison Square Garden — a vivid piece of Gilded Age New York commercial and social culture.

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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 ··············· December 26, 1896
City ··············· New York
Format ············· Complete issue

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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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