Description:

"THE HEATHEN CHINEE"
Rare group of nine plates and original lithographed mailing envelope (worn at edges with mailing address on verso), the complete set of nine printed plates comprising author Bret Harte's "The Heathen Chinee", published by The Western News Co., Chicago, 1870. First appearing in September 1870 in Overland Monthly, the poem was written as a parody of Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon and satirized anti-Chinese sentiment by Irish laborers in northern California. Six of the nine plates depict a caricature of a Chinese man who as the poem evolves is punished for cheating in a card game. Harte, who opposed racial discrimination, intended the poem to be a satire of the prevalent prejudice against the Chinese immigrants. However, the public interpreted and embraced the poem as mocking the Chinese and it was recited in public among opponents to Chinese immigration. Harte's career skyrocketed, yet he would always refer to the work as "trash". Fine.

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February 19, 2014 11:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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