Embalmed—That They May Keep Until 1880—Or Longer

Thomas Nast's political cartoon deploys Egyptian mummies as satirical vehicles, critiquing Republican prospects for the 1880 presidential election. Two mummified figures flank a central sarcophagus, flanked by Egyptian sphinxes bearing caricatured feline faces. The engraving's linear hatching and bold contrasts typify wood-block printing conventions of the era. Nast established the visual vocabulary later adopted by comic strips: sequential imagery, symbolic props, and exaggerated physiognomy to convey political commentary. Published in Harper's Weekly, this work exemplifies how nineteenth-century newspaper illustration pioneered graphic narrative techniques—panel composition, character development through repetition—that became foundational to American comics.