A Crack Trotter --"A Little Off"

Thomas B. Worth, who was noted for illustrations of horses and horse racing, designed many images for Currier & Ives. This print features a harness racing horse, known as a trotter --so named because it races at that gait pulling a two-wheeled sulky cart driven by a jockey. In this stable scene after a race, a blanket-covered horse stands with each hoof in a tub of water, while four grooms on their knees (or seated) each rub one of the horse's legs with a sponge. At left, another man offers the horse an apple. At right, a heavy-set man wearing a top hat is shown from behind; he holds a large bottle in his right hand, while his left hand is raised to direct a Black boy on a ladder to select a bottle from a row of bottles on the shelf above the horse.



Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, marines, caricatures, portraits, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. The firm operated until 1907. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company; later prints were printed in color.