Vanity Fair, Vol. 6, No. 156

Wood engraving from the American Vanity Fair, a New York weekly of political satire published during the Civil War. The cover depicts James S. Wadsworth as a winged cherub, captioned with reference to his poor fortune since challenging Horatio Seymour. The figure is rendered in fine hatched lines typical of mid-nineteenth-century relief printing. Vanity Fair (1859–1863) was a humor and political caricature weekly aimed at Union-side readers, mixing comic verse, satirical commentary on personalities and events, and illustrated mockery of public figures. This issue represents the paper's typical format of combining topical humor with contemporary printmaking technique.