Early Comic Books Revue
Above, extracted from Fun magazine, July 2nd, 1879, The Book Borrower, by artist James Sullivan. Click on it, to enlarge it to readable size. This being San Diego Comic Con weekend, when better than to look back at a few of the 19th & early 20th century comic books that can be found here on [...]
The Drummer’s Train Mash
For the month of February, we are continuing our series on Theatrical Cartoons, plus, for Valentine’s Day/Month, adding a focus on those involving Romance. Above is a five-card fold-out strip, advertising a performance of Sam’l of Posen; or, the Commercial Drummer, a highly successful 1881 play by George H. Jessop. On the reverse side of this fold-out, is [...]
Selling Out the Red Man: American Advertisers Portray the Natives
WARNING: The following cartoons contain racist imagery and slurs. To close out our series on Native American Heritage Month (until next year), we bring you artist Livingston Hopkins’ Big Scalper & Big Smoker. During the nineteenth century, there were a great number of sources that reinforced the projected image that Native Americans were uncivilized, hostile, [...]
Drummer’s Yarns, Part 2: Excelsior Library
“Drummers” — as travelling salesmen of the late nineteenth century were called (see the below right excerpt from the 1926 52 Letters to Salesmen) — were known for spinning tales & jokes, to get on friendly terms with their customers as part of their sales style. Per last week’s entry on Drummer’s Yarns, this made [...]
Drummer’s Yarns, Part 1
This Monday & next, examples of an overlooked group of late Victorian Age comic booklets, generically labelled as Drummer’s Yarns. “Drummer” was 19th century slang for a travelling salesman (drumming/rapping at your door). As depicted below in a page excerpted from the 1925-1926 52 Letters to Salesmen - contrasting the pitching style of then-contemporary salesmen versus those of [...]
