Copyright cartoon images from Library of Congress (UPDATED)

Comics historian Warren Bernard has been volunteering at the Library of Congress for years to help them catalog their editorial collections. Now he's identifying artists in the Copyright collection. Through the official exchange program at the Library of Congress, available to any qualifying institution, duplicate material not retained by the Library has been delivered to Columbia University's Butler Library and the Norman Rockwell Museum. Here's some images of some of the early 20th century cartoon material.

Sara Duke states that researchers can always make appointments in the Prints & Photographs Division to see the items the Library retained, as not everything had duplicates. Selections will be digitized when the project is complete. "I can say on behalf of the archivist and myself, we’re thrilled that duplicate material is making its way into other institutions, where researchers who might not have access to travel to Washington will be able to consult it."

Sykes was a major Philadelphia cartoonist and this may have been for a billboard.

Edelweiss Beer hired French for an ad campaign. A lot of these joke tropes survived for a hundred years.

Warren notes John McCutcheon's influence in the art, and the dog device.

A pool hall campaign by cartoonist Chapin:

Bud Fisher, Bob Edgren, and Rube Goldberg testimonials:

These Are Your Grandfather’s Comics: My Link to the Platinum Age

These Are Your Grandfather’s Comics

My Link to the Platinum Age

by

Stu McIntire

In the summer of 1981 I was visiting my grandparents. My grandfather was an antique collector at heart. I shared with him how I’d recently purchased The Latest Adventures of Foxy Grandpa (1905) at an antique store in New Market, Maryland.

I was more than a little surprised at his excited reaction. It turns out that as a young boy growing up in the in the Midwest, he was an enormous fan of Foxy Grandpa as well as other early U.S. newspaper comic strips, including The Yellow Kid and Happy Hooligan. In fact, he meticulously maintained a scrapbook of The Yellow Kid.

The Yellow Kid full newspaper page

Now it was my turn to get excited. “Do you still have it?” I asked. Sadly, the answer was no. His mother had burned it. She had no way to foresee a future interest much less the collectability of these newspaper “funnies” or their progeny. It wasn’t an act of malicious intent. It was just…inevitable. It’s what was done with such relics. Alas. But my grandfather would soon gift me with a (non-Yellow Kid) goodie from his youth. More on this later.

Over the years I’ve purchased or have been gifted other Foxy Grandpa collectibles. You see, it turns out Foxy was quite popular “back in the day”. A handful of (very) short Foxy Grandpa films were produced…more books…toys…sheet music…you name it. These are the Foxy Grandpa items I own:

post card (1906) 

post card (1906) 

 Up to Date card game (Selchow & Righter) (1903)

Hubley (repro) cast iron bank 

comic book (1905)

The Adventures of Lovely Lilly

The happy result of this bonding moment with my grandfather was that he gifted me a…handkerchief. Yes, a handkerchief. Not just any old scrap of fabric, this one has a backstory. You see, this handkerchief has faint pictures imprinted on it. My grandfather apologized that the pictures were not clearer. He explained that they are meant to be well-defined. When it was brand new the material showed no pictures. One was meant to take a hot iron and press the fabric until the images “magically” appeared. The pictures on this were not faded. They were just never fully exposed because the iron my grandfather used was not yet sufficiently hot to do the job it was meant to do.

It would be some time before I identified the artwork and writing on my handkerchief. I even tried enlisting the aid of Maggie Thompson (Comics Buyers Guide) at a comic convention in Philadelphia in the early 90s. I had no luck but I never gave up. Finally I made an inroad (the Internet can be a wonderful thing). Last year I found a match to the handkerchief on Pinterest (shown below). Text accompanying the photos identified the character as Lilly, from The Adventures of Lovely Lilly.

handkerchief (front view) 

handkerchief (back view)

NOW I was making some headway. Further research revealed that The Adventures of Lovely Lilly was a short-lived newspaper strip that ran in the Sunday New York Herald at the dawn of the 20th century. Written by Carolyn Wells and illustrated by G.F. (George Frederick) Kaber, Lovely Lilly featured an intrepid young lady who faced down fearsome beasts and dispatched them with alacrity. The text featured on the handkerchief reads as follows:

Lovely Lilly met a tiger walking in the wood.
Angrily he snapped and snarled as any tiger would.
By his throat she firmly grabbed him til he held his breath.
With her chubby hands she squeezed him til he choked to death.

Wow. Lilly was certainly no pushover!

A photo of Carolyn Wells and a few examples of Kaber’s non-Lilly art follow:

photo of Carolyn Wells

artwork by G.F. Kaber 

G.F. Kaber signature

artwork by G.F. Kaber 

Here are a few more samples of Lilly’s adventures:



Lovely Lilly in her travels met a buffalo.
Fierce and furious, the creature rushed at Lilly – so!
Naughty! Naughty! Lilly cried with disapproving frown.
Then she stuffed him in her box and shut the cover down.



Lovely Lilly idly watched an elephant draw nigh.
When he glared at her, she looked him squarely in the eye.
When he trumpeted loud and thought he’s rouse her fear,
Lilly only laughed at him, and soundly boxed his ears.



Lovely Lilly out a walking saw a crocodile.
Lovely Lilly said “Good morning” with a pleasant snile.
Nearer came the beast and nearer. Wide he stretched his maw.
Lovely Lilly with a quiet wrench broke the creature’s paw.

While hardly the stuff of sweet childhood dreams, Lilly was not unique when it comes to examples of grisly detail in children’s literature (the Brothers Grimm being one obvious prior example). Without question these were different times and the comic art preceding the First World War and later, the Great Depression were received by a reading public of a different sensibility.

I can only imagine my grandfather as a pre-teen youngster, eagerly devouring the stories of Lilly, Foxy, Yellow Kid, and Happy Hooligan. Perhaps too, the likes of The Katzenjammer Kids, Alphonse and Gaston, Buster Brown, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Mutt & Jeff, or Toonerville Trolley. What an exciting time to be a kid!

Sara and Mike go to Charlottesville

Sara Duke and I went to Charlottesville yesterday to see an exhibit, but we also stopped at a bunch of antique stores to exercise our comics-senses. So here's some of what I found:




Opus 'n Bill On the Road Again screen saver box covers. Unfortunately, I have no idea how one could view the animated segments now.


Eat Right to Work and Win, a 1942 book using King Features Syndicate characters. "Contributed by Swift & Companyto America's All-Out Effort through the National Nutrition Program. Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services." To read the whole booklet, click here.

Foxy Grandpa doorstop by Carl 'Bunny' Schultze. This is the second Foxy Grandpa thing I've found around Charlottesville - the first was a bank of his head. Sara and I both think this was repainted, but that doesn't much matter to me.

Wordless comic strip Ferd'nand 1957 collection.

Bud Sagendorf's Davy Crockett game, done around the time he was doing Popeye. I love the fact that someone saved this out of the Sunday comics and mounted it. I'll probably make a color copy and play it with my daughter. If there's any interest, I can do a hi-res scan for you readers.









Seven plates from Merry Masterpieces Fine Porcelain plates, Dayton Hudson, 1999. Anybody know anything more about these? Is it a New Yorker artist? They look vaguely like Danny Shanahan to me.

I bought a few more books and some Puck lithographs too.

Acquisitions considered, but not made: Raymond Briggs' Snowman place setting, 4 pieces by Royal Doulton - $40; Wood bas relief carving of Charles Dana Gibson cartoon - ? (some non-buyer regret over not at least checking the price); Raymond Briggs' Snowman porcelain box by Royal Doulton - $18; James Thurber house 50th anniversary commemorative plate - $40;