"The Fair" no. 1
Permanent ID:
12728Date:
circa 1850 – 1852Image Description:
Likely the first copy of "The Fair," a miniature, hand-written juvenile magazine by John G. or James G. Whiteman, about the Franklin Institute's Exhibition of American Manufacturers. The exhibition was an annual display of new American inventions. While Whiteman writes that this fair is the 4th annual exhibition, he is likely writing about the 20th, which took place in autumn 1850. Whiteman integrated the exhibition into his and his brothers' fictionalized town based on Philadelphia, which they called "Smokyville."This issue details and illustrates items at the manufacturer's exhibition, including washing machines, a cucumber and apple slicer, wooden block engravings, a kitchen range, printing press, a hydraulic machine for pumping water into houses, a parlor stove, among others. It appears that when Whiteman forgot the name of an inventor of an item of interest, he attributed it to his brother, William A., or W.A. Whiteman. Whiteman wrote a second issue about the same exhibition.
The small magazine is held together with a straight pin.