City Characters or Familiar Scenes in Town.
Philadelphia & New York: Geo. S. Appleton; D. Appleton & Co., 1851. Hardcover. Scarce pre-Civil War era volume (World Cat locates one copy at the British Library) describing the trades in Philadelphia, with four occupations undertaken by African Americans. Each trade is charmingly illustrated in detailed woodblock illustrations by William Croome, best known for his panorama of the Hudson River.
The African American occupations include the Whitewasher: "they get money for every room they whitewash, and sometimes have been know to lay up a pretty large sum of money". (p16); The Laundress: "All this, as you can easily see, takes much time and care; and the women who work at it have to labour very hard. They do not receive as much as they ought for their tedious and disagreeable labour" (p36); The rag-picker: "until within a few years, entirely unknown in our country. His business is to go about the streets and alleys searching for rags, nails, bits of iron and other metals, broken glass and whatever other articles are thrown into the streets as useless". (p83); and the Wood-sawyer: "this is a hard occupation, followed generally by coloured people. They are old men and have little ones to support, so that they have to work very hard. We should pity the poor old Wood-Sawyer. He is very useful to us." (p99).
William Croome's illustrations are really portraits with an unusual attention to the individual features of the trades people, men, women and children. Reference to the city of Philadelphia are throughout- "The Walking Advertiser" is carrying a sign for the "Great Panorama of Philadelphia by Van Daube." The other city occupations include: The fruitseller, The cabman, The stevedore, The fisherman, The beggar, The retired gentleman, Street minstrels, The store porter, The bill-sticker, The huckster, The walking advertiser, The loafer, The sailor, The street-sweeper, The dandy, The hospital nurse, The man with the grinding organ, The policeman, and The alderman.
Presentation copy, with period inscription, "John B. Storms, From his teacher, for excelling his class in Arithmetic, Jan. 24, 1868".
16mo, 100pp, advertisements George S. Appleton's juvenile publications, [12]pp. Brown gilt cloth covered boards with gold cover illustration; covers worn and discolored. Internally, foxing, closed tears on the title page repaired & some light pencil scribbling by a child. OCLC: 559399800. Good - condition. Item #24180
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