help identifying a few things

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Posted By: Anonymous

It is a Harper's Woodcut. The original was part of the magazine page, would be on light tan colored newspaper-type stock and have printing on the back. The woodcut is smaller than the whole page, so would have had to have been removed. As they stayed over the years inside the magazine, Harper's Woodcuts are often in strong condition-- so high grade itself should not make one fear it's a reprint.

The various Harper's Woodcuts are not hard to find on the market. There are also 1800s Leslie's Illustrated baseball woodcuts, which are similar style woodcuts that appeared in a similar-style magazine called Leslie's Illustrated Weekly.

While they woodcuts were pictures in a magazine, the key is that they were printed directly from hand carved blocks of wood. This is the same 'hand made' way the masters like Albrecht Durer and ancient Chinese made their woodcuts, and opposite to the reproductive 'second generation' way 20th century and today's magazine pictures are made.