Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War

Late 19th-century re-issue of Harper’s magnificent coverage of the American Civil War.

“Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War is universally recognized as the great PATRIOTIC STORY of that event. While breathing the deepest patriotism on every page it is at the same time written in an absolutely impartial spirit. This is the best history of war yet published, because it is the only COMPLETE general history of the war and the causes leading to it. It is history. A lucid, dispassionate story of men and events as they were. A narrative of Facts written in the very spirit of truth, for the very truth’s sake…Its Value is Double – because to the best written history is added a collection of Contemporaneous Illustrations which neither is nor can be equaled elsewhere. Pictures of men and places of battle by sea and land, sieges, camps, fortresses and everything connected with the civil and military life at the time.” [Back Cover].

This incredible collection of 27 paper-bound volumes was compiled by Alfred Guernsey and Henry Alden in 1894, using content copywritten about 30 years earlier by Harper & Brothers of New York. They were issued weekly, generally in chronological order, by the Star Publishing Company of Chicago and sold on a subscription basis for $10/year or $.25/each.

Apart from a vivid historic description of the Civil War outlined in the excerpt above, the group provides a fantastic visual representation of the military, social, economic, and cultural composition of America during the conflict. Over 1,000 illustrations include 300+ portraits of distinguished soldiers and statesmen, 100+ maps of states, campaigns, and battlegrounds, and 600+ miscellaneous scenes of nearly everything imaginable in military and civilian life at the time. Original contributing artists include Thomas Nast, Alfred Waud, Theodore Davis, Edwin Forbes, and Granville Perkins.