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Civil War Black Caricatures in Postwar Pulp Amusement.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 190.00 USD
Civil War Black Caricatures in Postwar Pulp Amusement.
Satirical Black humor set in Civil War, Fred Douglas and his Mule; A Story of the War, by Bricktop, published by M.J. Ivers & Co., N.Y., 1888, 5 1/2 x 9, (96) pp., color lithographed cover showing the titular character being thrown into the air by a mule's kick. Numerous full-page cartoonish woodcuts, showing rather outrageously stylized scenes of blacks and whites engaged in the book's story: foraging for food - mules! Told by a white enlisted man, describing his fictional, Keystone Kops-like wartime misadventures with Corporal Clam, and blacks including Pvt. Jack Strap, Charlie Brown, and of course, the company's contraband servant, renamed by them Fred Douglas. "Fred was a character, a real Virginia darkey, who didn't care a fig who got whipped as long as he had an easy time of it himself...If there was anything that he did understand in this world, it was the science of mules...Our brave and careful leader marched with drawn sword at least two yards in advance...." Cover and first several leaves with short edge tears, last leaf somewhat tattered but complete, uniform toning, some foxing, handling wear, but still good plus, and suitable for display. Fascinating exemplar of American popular entertainment a quarter-century after the war's end. Elusive on the market. No copies on abebooks.