Nov 21 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2687 -

Sale 2687 - Lot 75

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(CIVIL WAR.) Full set of 12 lithographic album cards from the "Our Relations at Home and Abroad" series. 12 numbered color lithograph cards, each 4 x 2½ inches; moderate wear including short closed tear to #3, adhesive and scrapbook remnants on verso. [Philadelphia?]: William A. Stephens, 1863
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Additional Details

These cards tell the story of American foreign relations during the Civil War, with the English lion stirring up trouble and the French rooster attacking the Mexican vulture. Cards 4 and 5 address the hypocrisy of England's abolitionism being forgotten in their embrace of the Confederacy. Card 10 shows the American eagle slaying the Confederate wolf, cheekily noting "For the precise period at which this occurred, consult history" (long before the actual conclusion of the war).

The cards were advertised as "the newest thing out" in the Nashville Daily Union starting on 15 March 1864, with the title "Our Relations at Home and Abroad" for the set.

The captions read, in order: 1. On England's muggy shore a surly lion gave a grievous roar! 2. Which temporarily astonished even the Gallic cock. 3. Who responded with warlike vigor, when the lion caved. 4. Exeter Hall. The lion weeps: "Is he not a bird and a brother?" 5. Which he forgets in the embrace of the belligerent wolf of the C.S.A. 6. The arming of the wolf by his faithful squire. 7. The Mexican vulture garroted by the Gallic cock. 8. Introduction of Master Swamp Angel; the lion pockets his rams. 9. Grand combat between the eagle and the wolf. 10. For the precise period at which this occurred consult history. 11. The eagle vindicates the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico. 12. Grand tableau of the future. The little child, liberty, shall lead them.

The art is uncredited, but the Library Company of Philadelphia attributes the lithography to James Queen, after art by Henry Louis Stephens.

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