Illustrations of Philadelphia. Vol. X. [graphic] / Vincit qui se vincit. Collected by Chas. A. Poulson.
Title
Illustrations of Philadelphia. Vol. X
Description
Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and prints predominately dated 1858 and pertaining to the built environment, and social, cultural, economic, and political climate of Philadelphia. Majority of the contents are articles about city businesses, industries, and municipal services; public interest stories; editorials relating to public concerns and social mores; and reports, lists, and statistics. Subjects include the operation of the fire department, including the introduction and trials of steam fire engines, the discontinuation of fire bells, and the yearly report of the “Fire Detective”; the City Passenger Railroad, including its commencement, progress and improvements to the city, and the auction of former omnibus horses at Herkness’s Auction House; balls, parades, lectures, and other forms of entertainment, including the questionable protocols of the minor theatres, horse racing in Chestnut Hill, and the opera season at the Academy of Music; fashion, including histories of the red petticoat and crinolines, hoop skirts, and satires about style and cost; the prison system, including Eastern State Penitentiary and corruption; the Great Comet and Blizzard of 1858; the removal of the market sheds and increasing the value of properties on Market Street; the inauguration of the Schuylkill Navy; and the economic state of shad fishing and fisheries, the oyster trade, dairy owners, ice dealers, paper manufacturers, and dentists., Several articles also report about city construction, improvements, and renovations. Sites referenced include businesses on downtown Chestnut Street and in South and North Philadelphia (Bailey & Co., silverware; Levy & Cox, retail dry goods store; Caldwell & Co., jewelry; the Butler House Hotel; John McClure, stationery store; John Fuss, lager beer); Church of the Incarnation, and Pine Street Presbyterian and Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal churches; Hunting Park; and the new market house (Sixteenth and Market). Editorials address the institution of a city ordinance against public smoking; the daily inhabitants of the State House Square and Custom House steps; the plight and nuisances of city street beggars, fortune tellers, gamblers, and organ grinders; and the heavy use of opium by Americans. Additional articles discuss Christmas, including retail store windows adorned for the holiday; events and activities of local organizations, including the Washington Monument Association, American Systematic Beneficence Society, American Veterinary Association, and the Newsboys’ Aid Society; auctions by M. Thomas & Sons, including the Howard Tilden estate, the wine cellar of the late Joseph Gratz, and oil paintings sold below market value; the closing of the Jones Hotel; proposal by city commissioner James M. Leidy for the creation of ward maps to aid city development; histories of the 12 1/2 Society and Hurst Mansion; the exercise mania; lost and found advertisements; the “fogyism” and “favoritisim” of the Franklin Institution mechanical exhibitions; and views of historic landmarks and the Hope Hose Company by photographers James McClees (p. 57) and Walter Dinsmore (p. 102)., Reports, lists and statistics detail mortality and crime rates; the domestic, flour, produce, hay, cattle, and pork markets; the weather for the week, season, and year; real estate and stock sales; churches in the city; taxes; the public schools; fire companies; current town topics; and “Local” and “Noteworthy” events, fires, and railroad and steamboat accidents for the year. Also contains the “Annual Message of the Mayor” reporting on the state of the city and classifieds for patent medicines and entertainments, including fortune tellers, the National Circus, and balls and parties attended, according to Poulson, by “firemen, apprentices boys, new boys, gamblers and fancymen" who are the " ‘efficient beaus’ " of the factory girls, milliners, shop girls etc."… on the occasions.” Ephemera includes a “Ticket of Admission to ‘Franklin Hall’ " for the Heenan & Jones Sparring Exhibition., Scrapbook also contains graphics including an albumen print, engravings, wood engravings, trade cards and cameo stamps. Comic and advertising vignettes, caricatures, and advertisements predominate as genres. Comic vignettes include many satirizing the fashion of large hoop skirts. Other vignettes satirize the new police uniform, gentlemen’s collars, the Irish, and African Americans ("Baker-street beauties"). Non-satiric vignettes show predominately home furnishings and wares, including silver utensils and serving ware, boxes for papers and deeds, a wire dish cover, coffee pots and kettles, pudding moulds, perforated nursery lamps, serving platter, and a double oven cooking stove. Caricatures (some hand-colored) depict burglars (annotated by Poulson as “ ‘fair hits’ at…the inconsiderable folly of the ‘compassionate’”); "The City Inspector," i.e., a street rag picker; the crude manner of men “on the balconies in front of the ‘gentleman saloons’”; a ‘Schuylkill Ranger’ and “chocker’ gang member; “A Juvenile Party” annotated as "A fair hit at precosity [sic]"; Kris Kringle; and comparisons of country and city doctors, store-keepers, and belles., Advertisements include views of " 'Sharpless’ new store on the N.W. cor. of Chestnut and Eighth Street (Butler property)' "; Crystal Building, F.H. Smith, forte monnaie, pocket book, & dressing case manufacturer (Fourth and Chestnut); Barnes cough syrup establishment (333 Chestnut); Giovanni & Oliver, wholesale fruit store (248 Market); Bailey & Co., British sterling silver ware (819 Chestnut); Perry & Erety, booksellers, binders & stationers (Fourth and Race); Warnick & Leibrandt, Philadelphia Stove Works & Hollow-Ware Foundry (First Wharf above Noble Street); Girard House ( 800 block Chestnut); Henry O.B. Banks, paint and glass store (400 block Callowhill) French, Richards & Co., wholesale, drug, paint & glass warehouse (1000 block Market); M’Daniels & Fort, saddlery, hardware & coach trimmings (101 N. Third); Wright, Hunter & Co., plumbers and gas fitters (900 Walnut); Moore’s Porter & Ale Brewery (1300 block Fitzwater); Anspach, Jacoby & Co., dry goods (Third and Cherry); J. Thornley’s India Rubber Emporium (311 Chestnut); John C. Keller, stove manufacturer (Ridge Avenue and Willow Street); St. Lawrence Hotel (1000 block Chestnut); Merchant’s Hotel (000 block N. Fourth Street); Mansion House (1000 Market); and Weymer & Brothers, dealers in warm air furnaces, stoves, and ranges & c. (1000 block Coates). Graphics also depict a photographic reproduction of a daguerreotype of the moon, a hand-colored illustration showing lady’s "Winter Fashions," and an illustration of "Lalla Rookh, The Tight Rope Elephant" annotated “exhibited at ‘Dan Rice’s great show’ … 29th of March 1858.” Many of the advertisements include street and pedestrian traffic and merchandise displays., Majority of contents annotated by Poulson with dates and manuscript notes, particularly social commentaries., Title page illustrated with a ca. 1856 lithographer's advertisement issued by Wagner & McGuigan after the work of lithographer Maurice Traubel and artist William Croome. Depicts an allegorical, patriotic scene with the figure of Columbia, attired in a toga, American flag, and laurel wreath, and with a broken shackle under her foot as she stands on a pedestal., Front free end paper contains Poulson inscription: "The "Articles" in the book are taken from fugitive sources only; and the dates affixed to each are those of the newspapers &c from which they were procured CAP." Inscription framed with cut out containing filigree and an eagle. Clipped vignette of a pointed finger also pasted on page., "Index to set in back part of vol. XI.", Artists, engravers, printers, and publishers include Calvert & McClaine, Robert Crump, M’laughlin Bros, J.B. Neagle, E. Rogers, J. Spitall, and J.W. Steel., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Creator
Poulson, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1789-1866, compiler
Date
1857-1858
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare Poulson scrapbooks - vol. 10 [(10)2526.F]
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Member's Annual ticket.
Title
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Member's Annual ticket
Description
Illustrated ticket containing an allegorical scene set in lush surroundings. Shows the figure of Pennsylvania under an arch covered in vinery and attended by cherubic-like boys holding baskets of produce above their heads. The society organized in 1827 with the mission "to inspire a taste for one of the most rational and pleasing amusements of man.", Issued to [H.?] J. Sharpless., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Forms part of Scrapbook of Ephemera [8608.F].
Date
[1855]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Scrapbook [8608.F.4c]
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society [ticket]
Title
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society [ticket]
Description
Illustrated ticket to "Admit a Lady to the Stated Meetings of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society on the Third Thursday evening of each month Available for One Year ending Septr. 1855. This will also serve for a single admission to a Lady or Gentleman at the Annual Exhibition." Text framed by garlands of flowers. The society organized in 1827 with the mission "to inspire a taste for one of the most rational and pleasing amusements of man.", Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Forms part of Scrapbook of Ephemera [8608.F].
Creator
Illman & Sons, engraver
Date
[1855]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Scrapbook [8608.F.4b]