This is a lot of three illustrations from the poem entitled "Plain Language from Truthful James" also known as "the Heathen Chinee." The author, Bret Harte, wrote a majority of his work about the American West. Contrary to the title, Harte was extremely interested in Chinese culture in the American West, and disapproved of the racism the Chinese faced in the U.S. The poem was originally created to be a satire on America's negative view of the Chinese; unfortunately the message was lost on the public who saw the poem as anti-Chinese. After the poem's publication, Harte enjoyed some great fame but later regretted the writing the piece calling it "trash" and "the worst poem I ever wrote, possibly the worst poem anyone ever wrote." [REF: How Bret Harte's Satirical Poem "The Heathen Chinee Helped Inflame Racism in 1870s America. By Daniel A Metraux]. The poem tells of two gold miners who plan to cheat a Chinese man named Ah Sin at a game of cards. However, when Sin keeps turning up every winning hand the men discover that they are the ones who are being cheated. The three illustrations measure 4.70" x 6.10" a feature a gold border with playing cards. The three illustrations feature the lines from the poem "Which I remark", "Till at last he put down a right bower" and "in his sleeves he had twenty- four packs." The illustrations appear to have been produced in Great Britain, on one of the illustrations it reads "Entered at Stationer's Hall." Burger Collection CA

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