[Inman Steamship Company]:

$650 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

EMIGRANT LIFE ON AN INMAN STEAMER. REPRINTED FROM "FRANK LESLIE'S ILLUSTRATED PAPER" APRIL 17TH AND MAY 1ST, 1880. A scarce promotional piece, presenting an anonymous author's idyllic picture of life and luxury on board an Inman steamer. Founded in 1850, the Inman Line was one of the largest British passenger shipping companies on the North Atlantic in the 19th century. By 1870, Inman landed more passengers in New York than any other line, mostly catering to emigrants departing from Liverpool in steerage class.The present promotional piece, supposedly written from the first-hand experience of a passenger, paints a prettier picture of the crossing than most of those steerage tickets probably saw, with life aboard the ship City of Brussels featuring plenty to eat, singing and dancing, clean rooms, medical services, and even the early electric lights. Pages 27-31 describe the process once the ship arrives in New York:"In single file the newcomers filter into the enormous rotunda, and the courteous police officer in charge ushers them towards the registering clerk. Here each one is asked his or her na,e, place of birth and destination, the replied being entered into an enormous ledger. Then comes the question of departure, trains, boats, etc. and the queries uttered in French, Italian, Irish, Danish, Finnish, Russian, and fifty different dialects, are briefly but courteously responded to. Those who propose remaining in New York emerge into the Battery Park, and are cared for by t

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