93

[“THE HEATHEN CHINEE”]

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:200.00 - 400.00 USD
[“THE HEATHEN CHINEE”]

<b>93. [“THE HEATHEN CHINEE”]</b>
<hr align=left size=5 width=33% color=#778899>Nine prints by Joseph Hull illustrating “The Heathen Chinee” by writer <b>F. Bret Harte</b>, 5½"x7¼", The Western News Company, Chicago, 1870. Original envelope with title lacking, light general soiling and wear; else in very good condition. Harte’s poem, “Plain Language from Truthful James or The Heathen Chinee,” which combined two common western themes, poker and the Chinese, is the source of the most famous depiction of the Chinese in America during the nineteenth century. The poem is a humorous account of a poker game involving Truthful James, the narrator, and Ah Sin, a “<i>heathen Chinee</i>.” Though not a negative criticism of the Chinese, the poem did foster an enduring caricature of the Chinese that lasted for years. Initially Harte’s poem did not make a big impression in the West, but it soon became notorious in the East and even in England. The poem was reprinted numerous times, including in several illustrated examples, of which this is the first, and there were even musical versions produced. The poem was quoted both by defenders and critics of the immigrant Chinese, and it was cited on the floor of Congress in an 1871 debate on the “Chinese question.”

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