The Heathen Chinee. [graphic].
Title
The Smile that was childlike
Description
Print depicting characters from Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Plain Language from Truthful James” later reprinted as “The Heathen Chinee.” The narrative of the poem focuses on two white men, Bill Nye and “Truthful James,” and a Chinese man named Ah Sin playing the card game Euchre. Bill and James believe Ah Sin is “childlike” and does not comprehend how to play the game. The print shows Bill and James standing in the left on a dirt road and showing playing cards to Ah Sin, who looks on with his hands in his pockets. Ah Sin is depicted in racist caricature and wears a queue hairstyle, a conical hat, gold hoop earrings, a blue tunic and pants, and cloth, slip-on shoes. In the background are mountains and a partial view of a cabin. Later in the poem’s narrative, Bill cheats playing the game by having cards up his sleeve. When Ah Sin plays a card that James already has, it is discovered that Ah Sin is also cheating with decks of cards hidden in his sleeves. Bill proceeds to fight Ah Sin. Bret Harte’s poem “Plain Language from Truthful James,” satirizing anti-Chinese sentiment, was originally published in the Overland Monthly Magazine in September, 1870. It became widely popular and was reprinted and republished as “The Heathen Chinee” in several illustrated series in pamphlet and loose print form., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Print contains registrations marks., See related: GC-Genre [P.2007.39.24]., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1870]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC-Genre [P.2007.39.23]
The Smile that was childlike. [graphic].
Title
The Smile that was childlike
Description
Print depicting characters from Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Plain Language from Truthful James” later reprinted as “The Heathen Chinee.” The narrative of the poem focuses on two white men, Bill Nye and “Truthful James,” and a Chinese man named Ah Sin playing the card game Euchre. Bill and James believe Ah Sin is “childlike” and does not comprehend how to play the game. The print shows Bill and James standing in the left on a dirt road and showing playing cards to Ah Sin, who looks on with his hands in his pockets. Ah Sin is depicted in racist caricature and wears a queue hairstyle, a conical hat, gold hoop earrings, a blue tunic and pants, and cloth, slip-on shoes. In the background are mountains and a partial view of a cabin. Later in the poem’s narrative, Bill cheats playing the game by having cards up his sleeve. When Ah Sin plays a card that James already has, it is discovered that Ah Sin is also cheating with decks of cards hidden in his sleeves. Bill proceeds to fight Ah Sin. Bret Harte’s poem “Plain Language from Truthful James,” satirizing anti-Chinese sentiment, was originally published in the Overland Monthly Magazine in September, 1870. It became widely popular and was reprinted and republished as “The Heathen Chinee” in several illustrated series in pamphlet and loose print form., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Print contains registrations marks., See related: GC-Genre [P.2007.39.24]., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1870]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC-Genre [P.2007.39.23]
[Glorification of the American Union]
Title
[Glorification of the American Union]
Description
Allegorical print glorifying life and liberty in post-Civil War America depicting the figure Columbia, depicted as a white woman, atop a tall pyramid-shaped pedestal. Flanked by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the latter holding the "Proclamation of Emancipation," she raises her hand toward emancipated enslaved men and women to her right who acknowledge her with raised shackled hands, a knelt position, and a tipped hat. Newly arrived European immigrants are gathered to her left. Abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher stands among the enslaved men, women, and children who have been emancipated, and revolutionary and diplomat Carl Schurz stands before the immigrants. The freed persons embrace each other, break free from shackles, and brandish instruments of free labor as behind them the Capitol, a large American flag, and apparitions of colonial soldiers stand vigil. The immigrants, depicted in their native attire, look to Schurz as they carry their belongings ashore. More ships continue to arrive in the background., Title from copy print at the Calvert Gallery, Washington, D.C., Printer's proof., Manuscript note on recto: Aun myn goeden arrend J. Bollens; J. B. Michiels., After a painting by Belgian historical painter Ferdinand Willem Pauwels, exhibited in 1867 at the Kunstschule in Weimar and possibly at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia under the title, "The New Republic.", See Hugh Honour's The Image of the Black in western art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989) Part 2, Vol. IV, p.248-249., Purchase 1999., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Michiels, Jean-Baptiste P., 1821-1890, engraver
Date
[ca. 1873]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-Emancipation [P.9672]