The song of the Grecian bend: Air--Vilikins and his Dinah

Imprint from foot of text. Non-dialect version of a song in "German" dialect called "Grecian bend" (first line: Von very nice lady mit Gotham did dwell), as found e.g. in the broadside H. Webster Canterbury's Songs for the million (Boston: J.E. Farwell & Co., [1868?]). This version has prose interpolations between the stanzas, and adds a final stanza referring in verse to "Central and Erie" and in prose to "the Commodore" (Vanderbilt) and "Saint Daniel" (Drew). Conjectural date based on date of other pieces referring to the "Grecian bend", a posture described in Hill & Bucknell, Evolution of fashion (1967), p. 174: "From the waist up the body leans forward, from the waist down the posterior is thrust out (emphasizing the bustle) to form the popular 'Grecian bend' or 'S' curve." The reference to Vanderbilt and Drew is consistent with this date: the aftermath of the "Erie War" and the fallout of the Fisk/Gould/Drew speculations that followed. Printed in one column; each stanza is illustrated by a silhouette printed to the left, the silhouettes separated from the text by a vertical double rule.