From William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
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AbeBooks Seller since 13 July 2006
About this Item
Lithographic print, 14¼ x 20 ¾ inches (36½ x 52¾ cm). Tanned and lightly foxed. Small closed tears in the margins, some repaired with tape on verso, one slightly longer tear just into the right edge of image. About very good. A rare political print commenting on President Andrew Jackson's warlike posturing with France over the issue of reparations for the Napoleonic Wars. In his first term, Jackson had negotiated a treaty with France under which the European nation agreed to pay the United States 25,000,000 Francs in recompense for depredations on American shipping during the Napoleonic Wars. When the money was not forthcoming, Jackson threatened military action in order to force payment, which prompted the French to demand a retraction before reopening negotiations. Tensions increased and military preparations began in earnest before France was eventually pressured into accepting a half-hearted apology from Jackson and paying out the reparations forthwith. The present image, produced by the dynamic anti-Jacksonian duo of artist Edward Williams Clay and lithographer H.R. Robinson, portrays the seventh president's glee upon receiving the money. An ecstatic Jackson, equipped with his military cap and saber, dances and waves a heavy bag full of Francs, asking his "first fiddle" Van Buren and his cabinet to "give us a war dance!" Louis Philippe has been knocked on his royal derrière, while a gallery of foreign dignitaries and figures watch on with a mixture of amusement and fear, such as King William who exclaims "Go it Old Hickory! Shiver my topsails if Louis Philippe isn't on his beam ends!" Seemingly out of place is an anti-Semitic caricature of an unspecified member of the wealthy Rothschild family, who declares that "By Moses and de Profits, I am King of de Jews!" A helpful, numbered caption identifies the many royals and sovereigns watching the scene. This rare print is recorded in three different variants, with only six copies between them. The Library of Congress records a variant lacking Clay's monogram and with Robinson's address printed as 52 Cortland Street. The University of Michigan and American Antiquarian Society copies contain the monogram and locate the printer's offices at 48 Cortland Street. This copy is of the third variant, which contains the monogram and locates Robinson "in the Clerks Office of the District Court," matching a second copy at the American Antiquarian Society and copies located at the Smithsonian and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. REILLY 1836-5. WEITENKAMPF, p.43. OCLC 752794878 (this variant), 752794853, 299944287 (other variants). Seller Inventory # WRCAM58663
Bibliographic Details
Title: GRAND VIRGINIA REEL AND SCAMPERDOWN AT THE ...
Publisher: H.R. Robinson, New York
Publication Date: 1836
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