Price
$24.95
Condition
used
Product Condition
Very fine, Minor (typical) glue spots on the eagle and shield label.
Size
5.125" x 2 7/8"
This unusual Civil War patriotic cover features a humorous cartoon referencing the popular comedian and writer Artemas Ward, the stage name of Charles Farrar Browne. The illustration shows Ward being escorted by two men—supposedly members of a “Vigilance Committee”—to appear before Confederate President Jefferson Davis after his traveling “Wax Figger Show” has been “confiscated.”
The cartoon humorously suggests that the Confederacy feared Ward’s satirical performances and writings, which often mocked Southern secession and politics. Adding to the joke, a pickpocket quietly steals from Ward’s pocket as he is led away—an extra bit of comic mischief typical of Civil War caricatures.
The scene was inspired by Ward’s story “The Show is Confiscated,” published in Vanity Fair magazine on May 11, 1861. Ward was enormously popular in the North and was reportedly a favorite humorist of President Abraham Lincoln, making this satire especially appealing to Union audiences.
A scarce and engaging Civil War patriotic design combining political humor, popular culture, and wartime propaganda.
From a large patriotic Civil War collection in very fine condition, that we recently acquired, that included several Lincoln covers.
During the Civil War, cartoons and humorous patriotic envelopes were widely used to boost morale and ridicule the Confederacy. Artemas Ward was one of the most famous comedians in America during the early 1860s, known for his intentionally misspelled writing style and traveling “wax figure” exhibitions. His satirical story “The Show is Confiscated” imagined Confederate authorities seizing his exhibit. Because Ward was admired by Abraham Lincoln—who frequently read his writings for comic relief—his appearance on a Civil War patriotic cover would have been immediately recognizable to Northern audiences and served as lighthearted political satire.
$24.95
used
Very fine, Minor (typical) glue spots on the eagle and shield label.
5.125" x 2 7/8"