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NY - New York,1889 - Puck Magazine Temperance Cartoon Illustrations

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 200.00 USD
NY - New York,1889 - Puck Magazine Temperance Cartoon Illustrations
Session D is a Mail-Bid Only Auction. Absentee bids will be accepted only. No live bidding will be allowed. All winners will be contacted after the auction. BIDDING ENDS MONDAY JUNE 27 AT 5PM PACIFIC TIME!!!
Lot of 2. 1. Volume XXVI, No. 659, 23 October 1889, New York edition cover drawn by in house illustrator Opper. This busy cover says a lot about liquor and prohibition. The main idea of this cartoon is prohibition does not stop the flow of liquor. Evidently Maine had outlawed liquor but it was not working. Starting in the 1870s in Ohio, women began working towards improving society’s ills by promoting temperance and passing local, state, and national laws to make liquor illegal. Women thought if there was temperance, men would not spend all of their paychecks in a bar - they would actually take care of their families. But since the flow of liquor never stopped with prohibition, society did not really change. And when the 18th Amendment took effect in 1918, it allowed for the growth of gangsters, crime mobs, and speakeasies, which were much more serious detriments to society than just drinking. Measures 10.50” by 14.” The upper right edge is folded and slightly torn. Otherwise it is in good condition. 2. Political cartoon sheet that appeared in the middle of the magazine. No date or year. Drawn by Opper as well. This one is titled, “The Cigarette Epidemic.” The illustration shows how cigarettes were overtaking society. One illustration pictures babies in buggies smoking. It also comments on Chinese Opium and its friendship to cigarettes and alcohol. The gist is if one starts with a cigarette, then one could progress to drinking and then feel the need for more drugs in the form of opium. The characters representing the vices are presented as devil-like. King liquor has a big, red, bulbous nose, which is a common caricature of a drinker. Measures 10.50” by 14.” In very good condition. Both illustrations have writing on the back.