THE CHAMPION OF DESPOTISM.
[New York: 1851 or 1852]. Uncolored lithograph broadside, drawn by Magee. 8-1/2" x 10-3/4". Near Fine copy of a rare item.
"A satire critical of New York Courier & Enquirer editor James Watson Webb for his journalistic assaults on exiled Hungarian revolutionary leader Louis Kossuth. Weitenkampf dates the cartoon 1852, but it may have appeared as early as December 1851, when Kossuth landed in New York for a much-publicized visit to seek American diplomatic and financial support for Hungary" [Reilly]. Although most Americans sympathized with Kossuth's struggle for liberty, Webb did not approve of Kossuth's "attempts to embroil the United States in the European conflict" [id.].
As a top-hatted Kossuth strides down the street, a copy of Webb's newspaper [with headline 'Kossuth'] protruding from his back pocket, people remark unfavorably "on the man what wrote all that Stuf agin the Hungarians." Magee, the artist and lithographer, worked in New York City during this period, with an office at 34 Mott Street, where he produced this scarce lithograph.
Reilly 52-2. Weitenkampf page 112. OCLC 299946275 [2- AAS, Lib. Cong.] as of January 2024. Item #33564
Price: $750.00