Aesop's Fables (1884): The modern comic page on its way

I was able to get this wonderful 1884 book on the cheap from eBay, owing to some loose pages throughout.  I owe thanks to the binding for deteriorating--this kept the item in my price range.  Pages otherwise look fine.

But before we open Aesop's Fables, let me present this 1901 New York Herald comic page by Richard F. Outcault, of Yellow Kid fame (image swiped from eBay).  Its depictions of African Americans, as most of us probably know, were par for the 1901 course.  This was your great-great grandparents' popular culture:

What's significant to this post is Outcault's comic page layout: text surrounded by comic panels of various shapes--some lined, some not.  This is the same format featured in the Aesop's Fables chapter, "The Ants and the Grasshopper," by illustrator Morgan J. Sweeney. To the scans:

Below: A short text version of Aesop's fable...

...followed by a much longer version in verse and accompanied by Sweeney's delightful comic page illustrations:

Note the slightly softened ending for young readers.  The grasshopper dies, as in Aesop's tale, but only after the ants have taken pity on him, giving him food and clothing--to no avail.

A quick Google search turns up nothing on Morgan J. Sweeney, save for illustration credits.  Shouldn't he better known?  (Him, and a host of other children's illustrators from this era.)  More chapters to come....

Lee

Before There Were Comics: Comic and Cartoon Features, 1860s-1880s

In their books and periodicals, young readers of the second half of the 19th century were routinely treated to creative combinations of art and text that, in many instances, uncannily resembled comic-strip and comic book features to come--so much so, that maybe the time has come to regard them as an earlier version of both.

Take, for instance, this "picture story" from the periodical The Little Corporal (1869).  Though intended to function as a type of word puzzle (with readers challenged to guess the accompanying text, to be revealed in the next issue), its comic-strip nature is obvious.  As for "W.O.C.," I've yet to figure out who this talented illustrator was.

More typically, picture panels accompanied verse, with the text and images interspersed, as with J.T. Trowbridge's comic poem, A Tale of a Comet, in the Jan. 1881 issue of the highly popular children's periodical, Wide Awake.  Here I've separated the illustrations from the text and arranged them in sequential order to give an idea of their comic-strip feel.  Artist unknown:

From a bound 1877 volume of Wide Awake, here are two similar verse/illustration efforts which, like the above, feature comic book-style art, albeit not quite as fanciful:

Next, from an 1881 issue of The Nursery, a more conventional comic book-style set-up, with rectangular panels above the verses:

Children's periodicals and books of the latter 1800s weren't always genteel in their approach to traditional children's stories and rhymes, as evidenced by this downright dark treatment (for babies, yet!) of Jack and Jill from 1878's More Classics of Babyland (art by L. Hopkins):

The 1879 Art in the Nursery was a cartoon and comic-strip volume for very young readers.  An early comic book?

Finally, two comic pages, more modern-looking than the preceding examples, the first from the newspaper The Youth's Companion (June 5, 1884; art by M.W. Wallace)...

...and the second from the June, 1888 issue of the periodical St. Nicholas (artist unknown):

Before we go, a comic-style ad from the April, 1874 issue of The Nursery:

And a product highly familiar to comic book readers: x-ray vision, complete with the iconic bones-in-hand motif, only from 1899 (The Youth's Companion)!!

Maybe it's time we renewed our search for the roots of our comic book images and ads.

Lee