Harper’s Weekly January 24 1863 Genuine Original with Thomas Nast Emancipation

Description

Harper’s Weekly January 24 1863 Genuine Original with the famous Thomas Nast Emancipation double page size centerfold. Perhaps the most sought after Harper's Weekly of them all. Very desirable illustrations particularly the centerfold. Very good clean complete condition. This full size genuine original was part of a set bound into a hard cover library edition book so it was well preserved. Please see my photos. NOT a reprint, authentic 1863 publication.
Harper's Weekly began publication in 1857 as "a journal of civilization", and contained notable coverage of the US Civil War and New York's Tammany Hall. The first incarnation ceased publication in 1916, and was absorbed by The Independent.
Emancipation of the Negroes – The Past and the Future (from "Harper's Weekly")
January 24, 1863
On January 1, 1863 Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order based on his constitutional authority as commander in chief. All enslaved persons in Confederate territory were declared to be forever free. Nast held strong liberal views and his family had emigrated from Germany to New York in 1848 to escape persecution. Here he created a striking, complex image for Harper’s Weekly that celebrates the promise inherent in the proclamation. In a large central vignette an African American family enjoy domestic tranquility around a "Union" stove while, immediately below, a baby symbolizing the New Year breaks the shackles of a kneeling slave. Scenes at left detail horrors associated with slavery–whipping, branding and the separation of families. At right, these are contrasted with future blessings–payment for work, public education, and enjoying one’s own home, goals that could only be realized if the Union won the war.