Billiards – "A Double Carom"

In this humorous print featuring a billiards game, two men simultaneously hit each other across the billiards table as they brandish their cues in their left hands. At left, a third man (also in evening dress and holding a cue) looks on with surprise. The print's title "double carom" is a bit of wordplay with a term used in billiards: A carom is any shot where the object ball or cue ball ricochets into another ball to move or pocket that ball. As the image shows, each billiard player uses hisr fist to "ricochet" a blow to the other's chin.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.