Talk to me about Harper's Weekly Wood Cuts

[TMKenKen]

Indeed. I have all of the Harper's and the Leslies. Pre-1900. They are newspapers, but very old newspapers, and they are very cool in my opinion. None of mine are graded. Would never think of grading them. I don't grade my books, publications, sheet music etc. either. I do know there were more than a few people who took clips cut from Reach and Spalding guides, graded, slabbed and sold them on ebay as "cards".

[Michael B]

I am not sure what the baseball ones sell for, but some from the Civil War period sell for very good money. One of the main artists for Harper's Weekly during the Civil War was Winslow Homer. His initials are found in all of the sketches he did for them. One of his most famous is a two page spread from the center of the paper called 'The Sharpshooter'. I recall seeing this one sell for well over $500.00 years ago. Sometime in the late 1980's the Portland Museum of Art in Maine had an exhibit of his Harper's sketches along with studies for some of his well known paintings including 'Breezing Up'.

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by TMKenKen

Indeed. I have all of the Harper's and the Leslies. Pre-1900. They are newspapers, but very old newspapers, and they are very cool in my opinion. None of mine are graded. Would never think of grading them. I don't grade my books, publications, sheet music etc. either. I do know there were more than a few people who took clips cut from Reach and Spalding guides, graded, slabbed and sold them on ebay as "cards".

Do you display them? I won the one in LOTG the other night, and was planning on having it matted and framed, but am concerned about fading.

[TMKenKen]

Originally Posted by Griffins

Do you display them? I won the one in LOTG the other night, and was planning on having it matted and framed, but am concerned about fading.

I have some of the major ones that (I have duplicates of) archivally matted and framed, sometimes with a plating when I give them to my grandkids for their rooms. When I do, I display the wood cut, with the remainder of the newspaper behind it and the matting so that it is complete. No fading that I have seen, but also no direct lighting.

[Griffins]

Thanks!

[drcy]

Relatively speaking, and with prudent care, they can be displayed. The ink is pretty permanent, and the paper is much less susceptible to aging than later newspapers paper. Newspapers from the 1900s have much more woodpulp in them, which causes them, to turn brown and crumbly.

Counterintuitively, newspapers from 1770 can be in far superior shape than ones from 1970, because of the lack of wood pulp in 1700s paper. Harper's has some wooldpulp, but a fraction of 1900s paper.

[TMKenKen]

Originally Posted by drcy

Relatively speaking, and with prudent care, they can be displayed. The ink is pretty permanent, and the paper is much less susceptible to aging than later newspapers paper. Newspapers from the 1900s have much more woodpulp in them, which causes them, to turn brown and crumbly.

Counterintuitively, newspapers from 1770 can be in far superior shape than ones from 1970, because of the lack of wood pulp in 1700s paper. Harper's has some wooldpulp, but a fraction of 1900s paper.

Right, rag paper much more enduring.

[drcy]

Relevantly, to plug my old book

Identifying Antique Commercial Printing Processes, and the Basics of Authenticating Antique and Art Prints

Includes a chapter on paper.