Showing posts with label 1900s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1900s. Show all posts

28 September 2019

The Last Of Lilly?

As i mentioned last time, very few of Carolyn Wells & G. F. Kaber's macabrely odd (and lovely) Adventures of Lovely Lilly strips are known to survive 113 years later.

In addition to the 3 strips run previously, these are all that i have ever seen, or even heard of. Hopefully, i'm wrong. Anybody got a stash of old New York Herald papers from 1906 & 1907?

The last two of these are directly from old papers, so they're actually still in colour, too -






I'd love to find more.

Also, so far as i know, this was Kaber's only excursion into comics. As noted last time, his art fame comes from his paintings.

colour strips from New York Herald (1907, June 2 & 9)

25 September 2019

Before Brightburn, Before Superman...

What happens with super powers in the hands of a child? The terrible potential of super powered toddlers is not a new topic for fiction. In fact, the notion pre-dates comic book heroes like Superman by decades. (But a few years after Hugo Hercules)

Let us meet Lovely Lilly, who had her brief run in the newspaper comics back at the end of 1906 and beginning of 1907. Lilly comes to us from the mind and quill of Carolyn Wells, back before she turned her prolific pen to mystery tales. The lovely renderings of Lilly are by George Frederick Kaber, who is better known for his paintings. The strip only lasted a couple of months, and not a lot of them survive today.

The comics typically let us see what happens when a child of power encounters the dangerous creatures dwelling in this world. Here we have the Hippo, the Crocodile, and the Tiger...




Wasn't she sweet?

strips by Carolyn Wells & G.F. Kaber (ca. 1906)

03 July 2018

OXO, More On

Continuing from last night's post, here's another trio of OXO Liebig collectors cards:

European Cities & Costumes (circa 1887):



Parrots & Cocatiels (?):


The Rat's Daughter (1903):

artists unknown (1887, 1903, ?)

02 July 2018

Beef With Cards

Since we're cut off from everything on which i had been working, let's go poke at some things that i hadn't gotten around to talking about. Like, Trading Cards. Say you like collecting trading cards, but you live in the later years of the 19th century and "Bubble Gum Cards" won't get started until the 1930s. What's a fanboy to do?

There's hope! Collector's cards were sometimes available with other candies. And, of course, you could get them with cigarettes (helps keep the pack from crushing to have that nice stiff cardboard in there, y'know). But some of my favorites came from ... meat extracts? Yup - the father/mother of modern bullion and the famous OXO tower in London. Beginning in 1872, Liebig started to distribute collector card series, and did so for over a century. (3 years over, i'm obsessed to report)

They were small series - typically only a half dozen cards, occasionally the full dozen. The subject matter was wide ranging, limited only by the editor's imagination and whim. Nature made for a common theme, as did travel and views of far-away lands. And history, famous landmarks, local culture, folklore...

As introduction, here are the art sides of three series. On later looks, we'll go to the text sides, but not today.

The Rodent Family (1954):


Naval Maneuvers (1901):


Modes Of Transportation In Japan (1905):


artists unknown (1901, 1905, 1954)

31 December 2017

Sunday Morning Antiques

There's a lot of feeling old going on, and i'm going to embrace that today. So the most recent of our Sunday Morning Funnies is 100 years old. Today's cartoons range from 1902-1917, so buckle up those cultural comfort safety belts and let's read on!

It's 1902 and superheroes are not yet a thing. What's a super strong fellow to do? Hugo Hercules had his own unique notions...



Before Smarty Grandpa there was the Merry Pranks Of Foxy Grandpa (1902)-



Even way back in 1904, cats were getting their own comics with Aubrey Of The Tenements-



Our most recent strips today, these Asthma Simpson The Village Queen Sunday comics come from some point between 1915-1917-



And we end up in the middle with a couple of 1907 comics from the surreally odd Loony Literature comic-



I think that last one still works today, though i must admit to a bit of surprise at seeing the telephone in a 110 year old comic. It's easy to forget that Bell filed his patent back in 1876, and phones were big enough business for AT&T's hostile takeover of the Western Union Telegraph  to have occurred in 1911. While it may not yet be a generally accessible device in 1907, it was exactly 30 years after the establishment of the first commercial telephone service in 1877. So it certainly makes sense that a "Princess" would have one at that time.

But i wouldn't have thought in that context if i was creating something that was supposed to exist back then.

Hmm...
I may have rambled off track once again.