Henry Ward Beecher.
New York: Published by Emmons Brothers, Bible House, (ca. 1866). Original engraving. 19,5 × 25,5 cm. Trimmed. Notes in ink on verso. Chipped at edges, and two small tears. Overall in good condition.
Head-and-shoulder portrait of Henry Ward Beecher, facing front.
Portrait of Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) the American Congregationalist clergyman, supporter of the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe the author of the abolitionist novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
According to the note on the verso this copy used to hang in the study of Nicholas Perczel (Sir Miklós Perczel de Bonyhád; 1812–1904) the Hungarian freedom fighter who also participated in the Civil War as a colonel of the Union Army and had a significant role in the liberation of Missouri. The note states that Perczel and his wife were Henry Ward Beecher’s and Harriet’s guests for six months in New York after their arrival to the US as refugees following the fall of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and they were corresponding until Beecher’s death. The Reverend helped Perczel to set up a small academy, teaching German and French to a group from the upper crust of New York’s society.
Rare portrait. We could trace only one copy in institutional holdings in the collection of “Miscellaneous Items in High Demand” of the Library of Congress.
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Price: €1,800.00