Secrets of the Great City. A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City
Jones, Brothers & Co., Philadelphia: c. 1868
Black-and-white engraving
37.5 x 23.75 inches, overall
$4,200
Secrets of the Great City
New York City Broadside
New York City Broadside
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Broadside poster issued by a book publisher to advertise an 1868 book by Edward Winslow Martin (the pseudonym of James Dabney McCabe). The poster seeks sales agents for the book, and includes extensive promotional text surrounded by a border design comprising various engravings of life in the New York City from the book. The poster and the book are early examples of colorful tabloid-style journalism, full of titillating anecdotes about the scandalous and criminal side of the city and gossip about the elite. Given its large size and ephemeral nature, this poster is quite rare. The book itself has been digitally copied by the University of Michigan and can be viewed online in its entirety at the Making of America Books web site (see References below).
According to the text, "As the Metropolitan Centre of the United States, New York City reflects all the good and evil of the land in their most intense forms. There is no man, however often he may have visited New York, who cannot learn, from this work, much regarding that great city and its many and mighty interests." Text includes titles of passages within the work, as well as a general list of covered topics, such as churches, the rich and poor, laborers, judges, beggars, dance houses, saloons, political rings, and hotels.
Decorative border of the engraved views and illustrations include "Fireman on Duty, Cooper Institute, City Hall, A Pious Thief, A Fashionable Thief-Shoplifting, Trinity Church, and a Dog Fight at Kit Burns." The cover illustration engraving of the book in the upper left margin shows the title and five views chronicling a man's ruination in New York City.
Edward Winslow Martin was the pseudonym of James Dabney McCabe (1843-1882), the prolific author of many illustrated books on American history and society. His subjects frequently concerned dramatic conflicts or scandals including The History of the Great Riots (Philadelphia: 1877) about railroad and mining labor strife, The History of the Grange Movement: Or, the Farmer's Wars Against Monopolies (Chicago: 1874) and Behind the Scenes in Washington: Being a Complete and Graphic Account of the Credit Mobilier Investigation (New York: 1873). However, he also published books about uncontroversial topics such as the Centennial Exhibition of 1876.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual light overall toning, soft creases, and cockling. Original folds with few tiny openings at intersections professionally restored and stabilized as backed with Japanese paper, now barely perceptible. Old pencil inscription regarding agents lower margin.
References:
"The Baltimore Railroad Strike & Riot of 1877." Maryland State Archives. 1999. http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc2200/sc2221/000009/html/0010.html (17 April 2003).
"The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books (by James Dabney McCabe)." Library of Congress. 20 March 2000. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/moahtml/ncpmAuthors09.html (17 April 2003).
"The Secrets of the Great City." Cornell University Library. http://encompass.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.nys/docviewer?did=nys199&view=50&frames=0&seq=7 (17 April 2003).
"The Secrets of the Great City." Making of America Books. http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AFJ8144.0001.001 (17 April 2003).