Comic books in 'Victorian Age'

First British Edition of the world's first comic book, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, aka, Les Amours de Mr. Vieux Bois. This book was first published by Tilt and Bogue in 1841 and written and illustrated by Swiss artist Rodolphe Topffer. The art was created in 1827, then translated into French 1837. Gilted hardcover, 176 pages, no color, 9-3/16 x 5-15/16, edition undated.

Sept. 14, 1842, 11-3/4x9, 44 pages, B&W, yellow paper-c on bookstand editions, hemp paper interior. Reprint of the 1841 British Edition. Has the text "Brother Jonathan Extra-Adventures of Mr. Obediah Oldbuck" across the top margin of each page. By Rodolphe Topffer, with cover masthead design by David Claypool Johnston, with cover art beneath the masthead reprinting Robert Cruikshank's title page art from the Tilt & Bogue edition. A special cover was included with copies sold in bookstands.

1849, 5-11/16x8-3/8, 84 pgs., B&W, paper-c. 2nd Wilson & Co. printing, with 9 panels removed and text formatted to reflect editing.

Blue cover, 5-11/16x8-15/16. This is a further abbreviated version of the 2nd printing by Wilson & Co. Unknown if the blue or green cover editions were first. Cover price $0.30.

Monthly almanac calendars for 1835 filled with illustrations and stories covering a variety of subjects including comic stories, whims, scraps and oddities. 4-1/2" X 7-1/2". B&W. Standard paper stock. 52 pages.

Monthly almanac calendars for 1835 filled with illustrations and stories covering a variety of subjects including comic stories, whims, scraps and oddities. 4-1/2" X 7-1/2". B&W. Standard paper stock. 52 pages.

Monthly almanac calendars for 1835 filled with illustrations and stories covering a variety of subjects including comic stories, whims, scraps and oddities. 4-1/2" X 7-1/2". B&W. Standard paper stock. 52 pages.

Monthly almanac calendars for 1835 filled with illustrations and stories covering a variety of subjects including comic stories, whims, scraps and oddities. 4-1/2" X 7-1/2". B&W. Standard paper stock. 52 pages.

Monthly almanac calendars for 1835 filled with illustrations and stories covering a variety of subjects including comic stories, whims, scraps and oddities. 4-1/2" X 7-1/2". B&W. Standard paper stock. 52 pages.

The American Tour of Messrs Brown, Jones and Robinson, by Toby (pseudonym). "Being the History of What They Saw & Did in the United States, Canada and Cuba." A humorous sequential story with one, two, and sometimes three drawings per page (one-sided), accompanied by text at the foot of each drawing. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1872. B&W, 9-1/4" x 12-3/4".

Arm and Hammer Advertisement Booklet from the 1800s, no date. Pages 2 through 7 feature black Americana cartoons accompanied by text at the bottom of each page. 5-1/2" x 3", sepia colored with black ink.

Arm and Hammer Advertisement Booklet c.1890. When closed, booklet measures 5.5-in. x 3.25-in. Folds out to 8.5-in. x 5.5-in. Full color.

1892 1st edition. This is the earliest known promotional comic book, predating as it does the Buster Brown premiums. Reprints advertising cartoons from Barker's Illustrated Almanac, including cartoons that frequently included racist stereotypes of blacks. Each cartoon contained advertising for Barker's products.

Cover (this same cover appears on the 1893 2nd edition) depicting travel to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois by boat, ferry, railroad, horseback, elephants, camels, bicycle, carriage , covered wagon, stage coach, clipper ship, sailboat, and on foot.

Full-color cardboard covers, 7-7/8-in. x 10-1/2-in., wraparound color cover, 156 numbered pages. published by Barker, Moore & Mein Medicine Company, Philadelphia, PA.

1892 2nd edition. This is the earliest known promotional comic book, predating as it does the Buster Brown premiums. Reprints advertising cartoons from Barker's Illustrated Almanac, including cartoons that frequently included racist stereotypes of blacks. Each cartoon contained advertising for Barker's products.

Cover (this same cover appears on the 1892 1st edition), depicting travel to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois by boat, ferry, railroad, horseback, elephants, camels, bicycle, carriage , covered wagon, stage coach, clipper ship, sailboat, and on foot.

Full-color cardboard covers, 7-7/8-in. x 10-1/2-in., wraparound color cover, 156-numbered pages. published by Barker, Moore & Mein Medicine Company, Philadelphia, PA.

3rd edition, 6-3/4-in. x 10-3/8-in., 180 pg. Cover depicts a group of people reading a copy of Barker's Almanac. A tall, thin man appears to either side.

4th edition. Has same cover as 3rd edition. 124 pages, 6-3/8-in. x 9-3/8-in.

Cartoons reprinted from Harper's Weekly and the New York Journal. Includes cartoons about the Spanish-American War. Title page reads "Davenport's Cartoons". Published by De Witt Publishing House. 12"x 16-1/2", 102 pages, hard-cover, B&W.

Newspaper format. Cartoons and jokes about the American centennial in Philadelphia. Centerspread by "Happy Hooligan" artist Frederick Opper. 11-3/4" x 16", newsprint.

1st printing. Printed in 1872 by Augustus Hoppin. Published by the James R. Osgood & Company. B&W, 60 pages 16" X 10-1/2".

Printed in 1872 by Augustus Hoppin. Published by Houghton, Osgood & Co., Boston.

No date, circa 1890's or earlier. Promotional advertisement booklet for Blackwell's Durham Tobacco. The front cover "Teaching Time" and back cover "The School Takes A Holiday" illustrations are both in full color. The interior pages, black and white, have two cartoons per page. These cartoons are based on familiar fictional folk characters like Jack and the Candlestick, Little Boy Blue, and Old King Cole. Each character is ascribed his or her own poetry, but the poem has a 'tobacco smoking' twist thrown in. The centerfold holds the self-contained short comic strip "The Course of True Love Never Does Run Smooth". 6 1/2-in. x 9-in., 8 pages, BW.

By H.W. Phillips and T.S. Sullivant. R.H. Russell & Son, 1896. 12-1/8" x 9-1/8", yellow hard cover, B&W interior.

London in Figaro was a British comic strip published by W. Strange. Found in the early 19th century, the comic strip continued for 8 years. Hardcover. 10-1/2" x 8-1/2". Newspaper stock. Black and white.

Frank Leslies' Comic Almanac for 1887. Cartoon with humorous captions, jokes, and monthly almanac calendars for 1887. B&W, 8" x 11-1/2", newsprint.

A premium offered in return for a subscription to the The Ram's Horn magazine. A collection of religious-themed cartoons by Frank Beard. Printed by Ram's Horn Press. Hardcover. 14" X 10 3/4 ", 112 pages.

Woolf's cartoons are regarded as a primary influence on R.F. Outcult in the later development of The Yellow Kid newspaper strip. 5-1/2" X 9". B&W. Varnished paper-like cloth hard cover. 72 pages. Cover price $25.00.

Third US reprint. On front cover, giant is holding a banner that reads "Done With Drawings by Timothy Crayon, Gypsographer, 188 Comic Etchings on Antimony". Title pages changes address to No. 15 Spruce Street. 5-11/16*8-3/8, 84 pgs., B&W, yellow-c paper.

4th reprint, Brother Jonathan Offices. Cover states " New York: Published by the Brother Jonathan Office". Front cover is a giant holding a banner that reads "Done With Drawings by Timothy Crayon, Gypsographer, 188 Comic Designs on Antimony". 5-11/16 x 8-3/8.

Almanac by Arthur Ainsworth, Boston, 1832. 6" x 8-1/2", B&W, softcover. Cover price $0.13.

Frederick A. Stokes Company, by Charles Nelan, reprints from New York Herald, hardcover, 11-1/2 x 10, 72 pages, B&W, 1898.

Add to cart Very Good $65.00 View scans

Add to cart VG 4.0 $39.00 View scans

First Edition. R.H. Russell and Son Publishers, 1895, by Frank P.W. "Chip" Bellew. 64 pages. 8-7/8" x 11-3/4". Publisher's original quarter cloth binding with paper over boards. Title stamped in red to front board with surrounding decoration in brown. Spine plain and unstamped. B&W. NOTE: 1897 reprint exists.

Frederick A. Stokes & Brother, no number, by Frank P.W. "Chip" Bellew. At least two versions of this exist; this version has an illustrated front cover and is 5-1/4" x 7". 1-1STB has a plain red front and back cover and is slightly smaller. Hardcover, B&W, 1888. (Title page lists publisher as "Successors to White, Stoke & Allen."

Frederick A. Stokes & Brother, no number, by Frank P.W. "Chip" Bellew. At least two versions of this exist; 1-1STB has a plain red front and back cover and is slightly smaller 4-3/4" x 6-1/2"; 1-1STA has an illustrated cover and is slightly larger. Hardcover, B&W, 1888. (Title page lists publisher as "Successors to White, Stoke & Allen."

Religious cartoons by E.J. Pace, reprinted from The Sunday School Times. 6" x 7-1/4", brown hard cover, B&W.

1st printing. by F. B. Greene. A humorous children's primer to grammar and definitions. Contains illustrated lessons for children to study and learn the definitions of a variety of different objects and animals. String bound pamphlet, 4 1/2" x 6", b&w, 26 pages. Cover price $0.10.

"The Fools Paradise with the Many Adventures There As Seen in the Strange Surprising Peep Show of Professor Wolley Cobble," by Wilhelm Bush. Title on cover is: Walk In! Walk In!! Just About to Begin!!! the Fools Paradise. Anthology of Busch comics, translated into English. 1 crown, 9-7/8 x 7-3/8", printed one side only, gilted green hardcover, hand colored interior.

Add to cart VG+ 4.5 $27.00 View scans

Add to cart GD/VG 3.0 $13.00 View scans

Add to cart GD- 1.8 $9.00 View scans

Words and illustrations by A.B. Frost. Features "The Humane Man and the Bull Calf," "A Warning to Mutton that Thinks Itself Lamb," "Antonio and Jeremiah, an Inharmonious Tale," "Dizzy Joe," "Violet's Experience," "The Entire Discomfiture of Uneasy Walker," "'Twas a Poem about Gentle Spring," "The Kidnapping of Private Jean Francois: A Frontier Episode of the Next War," "A Low Down Trick; or, Louisa's Capitulation," and "A Tale of Two Tails." 7 in. x 9 in., 116pg, hardcover, B&W.

Limited Edition Hardcover. Hand numbered and limited to 1,000 copies. by Sewell T. Collins, Jr. A collection of caricatures depicting portraits of theatrical stage actors, from a series of sketches originally published in the Chicago Sunday Tribune. Formatted single panel per page, non-sequential art. 10" x 12-1/2", 52 pages, B&W.

This is the Hand Colored Edition, which was hand colored during the production process; not listed in Overstreet. Sampson Low Son & Marsten, Wilhelm Busch comic strip reprints translated by Harry Rogers, no number, 6-1/4 x 9-7/8, 138 pages.

Sampson Low Son & Marsten, Wilhelm Busch comic strip reprints translated by Harry Rogers, no number, 6-1/4 x 9-7/8, 138 pages, red binding.

Add to cart GD+ 2.5 $69.00 View scans Water damage: Slight.

By Wilhelm Busch. Published by Griffith & Farran, London: September, 1872. 8-1/2"x5-1/2", 168 pages, printed one side only, orange, black & white hardcover, B&W interior. Notes from Overstreet: Reprint published by Phillipson & Golder, Chester; text written in English to accompany Busch art.

Add to cart GD- 1.8 $115.00 View scans

Sampson Low Son & Marsten -1868. Wilhelm Busch comic strip reprints translated by Harry Rogers. Hardcover, green quarter-cloth binding. 6.5" x 10", 134 pages, B&W.