Sketches Among the Catskill Mountains
date: 1866
artist: Thomas Nast
double page wood engraving uncolored as issued – matted
condition: light small foxed spots in image below “Catskills” title, otherwise good
A collection of images depicting the Catskill Mountain House in the center with surrounding landscape features including the Kaaterskill and Haines Falls; also gently satirizing the activities of tourists at the Catskill Mountain House in smaller images, e.g. empty pockets of a guest leaving the hotel and an encounter with a bear at the nearby Laurel House.
source: Harper’s Weekly
13 ⅝ x 20 ¾″ mat: 18 x 24″
The cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902) came to the U.S. from Germany as a young child. After working at Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper from the age of fifteen, he moved to Harper’s Weekly in 1862. His satirical sketches were a popular feature at Harper’s and he came to be considered “the father of the American political cartoon”. During the Civil War his sketches were appreciated by President Lincoln as helping recruitment to the Union cause.