The F.N. Barksdale Fisherman's Poem, by Tim Clancy

We are honored again to have a submission by Tim Clancy. Tom wrote recently of Decker boxes, but this time he tells the background and history of a unique piece of ephemera: an original piece of angling art by F.N. Barksdale.

The F.N. Barksdale Fisherman's Poem, by Tim Clancy

Here's another one of my Favorite field finds.  Found it early in my collecting days in an antique store in Morristown NJ.  It's an original charcoal & Ink dated and signed July 1910 by an "F. N. Barksdale".  He was pretty easy to research because he came from a prominent family and was head of Advertising for the Pennsylvania Railroad.  We have all seen different versions of this classic "Fisherman's Poem"  where others took the liberty of adding a line or two.  I've seen similar versions on post cards and such.  But this is the original.  It's comes in it's original simple gilded frame (15" x 19") and the art (10" x 13"), which appears to be covered by matting, is actually mounted on  plain paper or board, so the the image shows the entire piece. 


Barksdale, like I said was pretty famous, and was one of the first ad men to utilize large format albumen photographs in advertising.  He was also a noted writer and artist.  He's usually referred to as Colonel Francis Nelson Barksdale, but I don't know anything of any military history, he was born in Charlottesville VA in 1855, but he'd seem to be too young to have fought fought in the Civil War. However being college educated, he'd likely be an officer if he joined the military after college.  For a brief period he lived in the wealthy town of Short Hills New Jersey which is just a short distance from Morristown, so possibly this came out of his estate. 

One of my absolute favorite pieces and it holds a special place at my bar upstairs in my boat house.  I can't imagine this ever being for sale so please no offers.



Thanks Tim! What an awesome piece and some great history for us ephemera fans.

-- Dr. Todd