Item g085020134
(click on the picture for an expanded view)

 
Condition. The Perry Squadron engraving is in Fair condition as is the entire paper. There is heavy foxing on the engraving as well as throughout the entire paper. The paper was extracted from a bound volume and there are a few small tears along the vertical fold line (spine). There is a light horizontal fold line. A few of the bottom right corners (not the engraving pages) have dog-eared corners.

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Author Unstated:
Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing- Room Companion, Boston, February 12, 1853, Volume IV, No. 7, Whole No. 85, pages 97-112. The St Valentine's Day edition of the paper. Includes a two page (center page -- 15.75 x 22.75 in - 40 x 58 cm) engraving (woodcut I presume) of the Perry Expedition Squadron. The engraving is titled, "A Superb View of the United States Japanese Squadron, Under the Command of Commodore Perry, Bound for the East." The engraving was by J.W. Orr from a drawing by Wade, both of New York. The engraving shows the ships assembled and most with full sail showing. Commodore Perry is seen standing in a long boat headed to board his flag ship, the Mississippi. The drawing was not based on an actual scene but represented the artist's conception of what the assembled squadron would have looked like. The engraving lists 12 ships of Perry's "United States Japanese Squadron." The ships are the Mississippi (Perry's Flag Ship), Vermont, Saratoga, St. Marys, Macedonian, Plymouth, Vandalia, Susquehanna, Princeton, Alleghany, Powhatan and Supply. In addition to the engraving there is a short article (60% of a 1/3 page) on the "Japan Expedition" which presents statistics about the ships of the squadron. This is may well be one of the earliest widely circulated illustrated article on the expedition. The print often has faults (folds, staining, foxing, paper thinned or broken at folds) which are typical of its age. It is sometimes found with hand coloring added.

The article published the below list of statistics from "... from the best authority.". I note that several of the ships (4 of the 12 listed) did not participate in the Expedition to Japan.

The article notes that 700 marines would accompany the expedition. It concludes that with the marines and ships complement the expedition will have "an effective force of 4000 men, and above 300 guns, mostly heavy ordnance.

The expectation of future articles is created by the statement that:

We have also secured the services of an able and experienced officer connected with this expedition, who will enable us to keep our readers well informed in every respect upon the subject, both as it regards news of the movements of the same, and illustrations of such matters of note as the expedition may meet with in their intercourse with this strange people.

For more information on the actual ships in the Squadron, click here.

Page 97

Illustration - Masthead (1/3 page)
Illustration - St. Valentine's Day (1/3 page)
Article - St. Valentine's Day

Article - Rosalthe: The Pioneers of Kentucky, A story of Western Life by Dr. J.H. Robinson (continued, starts at Chapter XII).

Illustration - Allegorical Representation of St. Valentine's Day (full page)

Illustration - Annual Celebration of Christmas Holiday, by the Expressmen of New York (full page)

Poem - Never Look Down by Owen G. Warren
Article - The Packet by Rev. Henry Bacon (full pages, extends onto page 103)

Poem - To Poesie by Annie Johnson
Article - The Eternal "Parcae" (short)
Poem - Sonnet, by Wm. Edward Knowles (short)
Article - Ghosts (short)
Article - Waifs from Washington, No. VI, by Ben Perley Poore (1/3+ page)
Poem - To Mary--A Valentine by William T Hilsee (short)

Illustration - A Superb View of the United States Japanese Squadron Under the command of Commodore Perry, Bound for the East

Poem - Burning the Letters by Phoebe Carey (short)
Article - Carrie Carlton's Valentine by Anges Leslie, Chapters I to IV (1+ page, extends onto page 107)

Article - Carrie Carlton's Valentine by Anges Leslie, Chapters I to IV (1+ page, continued from page 106)
Article - Education (short)
Poem - The Advancing Light by Mrs. C.E.D. Mansfield
Article - Velocity and Magnitude of Waves (short)
Poem - Sunset and Twilight
Article - Crucifixion (short)
Poem - Random Pearls
Poem - Washinton Funeral Sonnets, No II by Henry Wm Herbert
Article - Advice to Wives (short)
Article - Forward Children (short)

Illustrated Article - Printers, Types of Mind, or Fac-similes fo the Hand-writing of Eminent Persons, No 7, by Ben Perley Poore

Publishers infor with small illustration
List of Contributors
Contents of Next Issue
Article - Trade in Insects (short)
Article - Relief for Madeira (short)
Poem - Splinters
Article Japan Expedition - related to illustrations at pages 104~5 (1/6+ page) Miscellaneous short items

Poem - To an Afflicted One, Miss Julia Wallace
Article - Stories of Gods and Goddesses, No. VII, the Seige of Troy by T. Bulfinch (2/3 page)
Poem - Inconsistency by J. Hunt, Jr.

Article - Expressmen's Celebration (1/3 page)
Article - Wayside Gatherings (short)
Article - Foreign Items (short)
Poem - Sands of Gold
Poem - Joker's Budget
Miscellaneous advertisements

Illustrated Article - Phalon's Saloon (1/3+ page)
Illustration, Interior View of Phalon's New Saloon, in the St. Nicholas Hotel, New York (1/4 page)
Illustration, Shipwreck of the Packet Ship Corneliud Grinnell, on Squam Beach

I have placed both illustrations together on this page.

For general informaion on Gleason's, follow the links below: