Sunshine & Shadow

 in New York

excerpts from the 1868 book by Matthew Hale Smith

ILLUSTRATED

Life in 1868 New York City is vividly portrayed in this New Limited Edition 117 page booklet. Printed on 60# paper, it is spiral-bound and has a vinal sheet protecting the cover.

Smith describes the various sides of New York society in the post-Civil War era: from the newly rich in their gaudy mansions, the dandies with their yellow kid gloves and the unprincipled curbstone stock brokers, to the the prisoners in the Tombs on Sunday morning, the "first class" houses of prostitution, the street-walkers and the patrons of Harry Hill's Dance House.

He predicts that while New York has "numerous sensational play-houses, where small actors perform small plays, written by small men...the era of sterling drama and talented actors is in the past, perhaps never to return."

The booklet also focuses on the Bowery, the "peculiarities" of New York churches, Central Park, the Metropolitan Fire Department, the First Division National Guard, Riots, the newly developed Telegraph, the Astor House, the various New York newspapers and magazines, etc.

Stories are also told concerning a number of notable New York visitors and/or residents: Henry Ward Beecher and Plymouth Church, Horace Greeley, James Gordon Bennett, Harper Brothers, Robert Bonner, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, General Scott, Admiral David Farragut, Aaron Burr, Phineas T. Barnum, Samuel Morse, John Jacob Astor, Thurlow Weed, Daniel Webster, Cornelius Vanderbilt and others.

 

Wouldn't this make a unique gift?