A Feast of Grapes
The Good Boy’s Primer. Philadelphia: Moss & Brother, ca. 1849-1857.
This is a fairly early wood-engraved image of a vineyard appearing in a children’s book. Even in this simple scene, the labor is divided by gender: the man and boy are up on the ladders picking bunches of grapes and delivering them to the women holding baskets. The caption below rings with wholesome exuberance: “I love to see grapes growing; and when they are ripe I love to make a feast of grapes.”