Carriers' Union New Year's Address: January 1, 1887. Broadside request for tip.
[New York]: 1886. An elegantly engraved large broadside address published as a greeting to New York newspaper readers, serving as a subtle request for a tip for the city's newspaper carriers, while also highlighting many of the major news events of the day, most notably the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.
These New Year address broadsides were greetings that newspaper delivery boys gave to their customers on the first day of the year. Subscribers would then reward the carriers for their year of faithful delivery with a New Year's tip.
Tipping is thought to have begun in British taverns and coffee houses of the 17th century, when patrons would place money in a bowl marked "to insure promptitude" or T.I.P. Tipping wasn't enthusiastically accepted by Americans. By the 1890s, shortly following the date of this broadside an anti tipping movement was started by those who thought it opposed to American ideals in that it encouraged financial dependency in a lower servile class. The New York Times weighed in against tipping in 1897, noting its origins in Europe as a minor annoyance, and its transformation into "blackmail". Although 6 states eventually passed anti tipping laws, they didn't hold up in court, and by 1926 tipping was a firmly entrenched American custom.
This broadside couches its request for a tip for the carriers in a subtle and elegant way. There is no direct request for money, just a gentle reminder of the many important events which occurred in the previous year, all faithfully delivered to subscribers all year long.
The noteworthy New York event of the year was the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, which took place on October 28, 1886. The broadside heralds the statue finally standing on its pedestal in New York harbor, praises the work of the American Committee which raised financial support, and thanks France: "Bartholdi's noble gift at last in perfect beauty stands, Complete in symmetry as from a master workman's hands ... The Republic of the New World greets its sister o'er the sea, We'll ne'er forget her noble gift -- "Statue of Liberty".
Additional American events include: the fleeing of New York's "Doodle Aldermen" for Canada, the Apache wars and the capture of Geronimo, the sinking of the "Oregon", the Charleston earthquake, the yacht "Mayflower" as victorious defender of the sixth America's Cup against the Scottish challenger "Galatea", and the recently deceased New Yorkers including Tilden, David Davis, Seymour and Gough.
International news events include "the unsettled state of Ireland" ("Old England soon must loose her grip, the land shall yet be free") and a prediction of the upcoming world war in verse citing Bulgaria's troubles "beneath the Russian heel" and the state of European nations, "with jealousies and hatreds deep all Europe seems ablaze, Intrigue and plot and counterplot to us seem devious ways..."
Text printed in blue in two columns, and in one column for the final paragraph. The last line of text within wreath reads "Copyright, 1886". The text, with headline printed in a variety of fonts, encompassed within an ornate engraved border decorated with large shell motifs, cupids and allegorical figures. 18 1/2 x 24". Extensive splitting along folds, repaired with archival document repair tape on verso. The New York Historical Society Broadsides collection holds 9 similar New Year's addresses for the years 1836, 1861 to 1863, 1856 and 1857, and 1872, 1873 and 1878; but not for 1886. OCLC: 32753446 locates only one copy of this broadside (a variant border), at Brown University. Note: shine on image from protective mylar. Item #23335
Sold