Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, February 2, 1856. Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia; Arabia; Battle of Lake Erie (Commodore Perry's Victory); Scenes in the (Circus) Ring; Icebergs and Greenlanders; Approach to Jerusalem; Origin of Plants; 1856 Massachusetts House of Representatives

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 2, 1856 issue, Volume X, No. 5, Whole No. 239. Numerous illustrations from engravings. Elephant folio size, sewn newsprint wraps, 16 pp. Very Good Plus, with small areas of peripheral darkening, soil on rear cover, small dog ear without loss at some leaves; standard age-toning to the paper. A sturdy example. See scans. 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, Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, with text and one large portrait engraving; The Contrabandists, or The Secret of A Life / A True Story of the South of France (continuation, with of several chapters; one engraving as illustration; author uncredited here); two full pages (and these are of course large folio pages) of text with six engravings on Arabia - Arab Emigrants, an Arab Plough, an Arabian Market Scene, and Arab Fool/Crazy Man, Arabian Prophesying, and an Arabian party in a tent; Frank Milton's Angel, a story by Mary A. Lowell; a vast two full page engraving of the Battle of Lake Erie (Commodore Perry's Victory), with ships identified at the bottom margin, though two folio pages are too large even for a large-format scanner, and that marginal identification doesn't show in the scan; Stingo Grout, Esquire, a story by Mrs. H.C. Gardner; Mr. Daniel Dingdong (of the firm of Dingdong, Titman and Weasel), a story by Maurice Silingsby; Scenes in the (Circus) Ring, text and one large engraving; Icebergs and Greenlanders (text); Approach to Jerusalem (text); Origin of Plants (text); full rear page article, with very large engraving, of the 1856 Massachusetts House of Representatives; 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. An early issue under this name. lLng2