Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, February 16, 1856. St. Valentine's Day; Paris; Walking Leaves of Australia; Cathedral of St. Giovanni (Turin); City of Genoa; Palace of the Senate (Turin); U.S. Frigate Constitution/War of 1812; John G. Gilbert; Wellington Hill Depot; Remarkable Trees; The Miller of the Dee

Boston: Ballou, M.M., 1856. First Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. Elephant Folio - over 15" - 23" tall. From Engravings. Boston: M.M. Ballou, 1856. First Edition. The February 16, 1856 issue, Volume X, No. 7, Whole No. 241. Numerous illustrations from engravings. Elephant folio size, sewn newsprint wraps, 16 pp. Better than Very Good, with very little of the common peripheral darkening, modest edge wear, a few spots of foxing. Not all that far short of Near Fine. See scans. A sturdy and handsome example. Maturin Ballou's paper was quite supple, not at all fragile, and it shows. Sharp, healthy, well-preserved. This issue contains stories, articles, and / or the diverse and now somewhat legendary engravings - here, regarding: cover article, St. Valentine's Day, with large half-page engraving; several more chapters of serial fiction by the editors, The Contrabandist - The Secret of A Life. A True Story of Southern France / with two engravings illustrating that; Paris by Night; Walking Leaves of Australia; Cathedral of St. Giovanni (Turin), with one large engraving; City of Genoa, with one large engraving; Palace of the Senate (Turin), with one large engraving; Mr. Baker's Domestic System, by Mary E. Robinson; a massive two-full-page engraving of the Deck of the U.S. Frigate Constitution at the Commencement of Action With the British Frigate Guerriere on August 19, 1812; The Black Saddle-Mare, by Horace B. Staniford; John G. Gilbert, biographical brief with portrait engraving; Wellington Hill Depot (winter engraving); Remarkable Trees, a short piece on several unusual tree species from around the world; A Lesson for Borrowers, by Mary L. Meany; and, on the back cover, a full-page engraving of Charles Mackay's poem, The Miller of the Dee, with the verse itself below it; as well as of course a number of short editorials, news pieces, poems, and ads. Please see all scans. Maturin Ballou's 16-page newsprint periodical was already a piece of American history when he, as managing editor of Gleason's Pictorial, bought that - the first successful illustrated weekly newspaper in America - from owner Frederick Gleason in 1855. lLng2