Description:
285 Water-street, [New York City]: [J. M'Clelland], 1827.Broadside, 19 ¾"h x 11 ⅜" wide at greatest extent, uncolored. Six lines of headline type surrounding two cuts, followed by two columns of text with a typographic divider. Minor-moderate soiling and staining, creasing along old folds, small losses at fold intersections affecting a few letters but not the sense, some losses along left edge well away from printed area.
The "Bobalition" broadside as a specific genre of American racism originated in Boston as a series of so called "bobalition" broadsides, which appeared in Boston between at least 1816 and appearing regularly at least up to 1837. The example offered here is the only known example of its kind to have originated in New York City. This example is an extremely rare 1827 "Bobalition" broadside featuring a crudely racist parody of New York City's first Emancipation Day celebration.
The "Bobaltition" broadside, in newly contrived pseudo-black dialect of mispronunciations and… Read More