Das Ist Alles

Yes, that's all of Wallace Tripp . . . hey, I mean for now! Don't panic. There's much more Tripp to come later on. It's just time to bring out some other good stuff.

Allegory of Spring—1942

Another classic Wallace Tripp parody of a classic work of art:

Below, the 'original', Sandro Botticelli's La Primavera (Allegory of Spring) 1477-78:

Tripping with St. George

Larry MacDougall is probably my favoritist illustrator of the contemporary faerie enchantment genre, and he and his wife are enjoying the posts of Wallace Tripp's work (as many of us are), and I dedicate past, present and future Tripp posts to them.

As indicated in his drawing, Tripp used Michel Colombe's 1508 bas relief of St. George and his dragon as a moment of parody. Ha! Baa relief indeed.

Colombe's work was the marble altarpiece for the high chapel in the Chateau de Gaillon, since removed to the Louvre in Paris.

The Fourth Kind

Wallace Tripp

The Buccina

The buccina is, of course, a brass instrument that was used in the ancient Roman army, which amuses Wallace Tripp.

Wallace Tripp

Eighty-Five!

Imagine that! Sir William Russell Flint painted these two watercolors when he was 85 years young!

Ray as Mme du Barry — 1965

Cecilia in June — 1965

The Seven Ages of Man

Great cartoons reveal great truths.

Excuse me, I need to blow my nose.

Mayan Virgin

From the era of the great Mexican calendar girls:

Caceres Novello — Virgen Maya — 1937

I think this is what them virgins got to do before they had their beating hearts ripped from their chests and thrown into volcanoes.

American Manga

Manga is not my cup of tea, but I bought this comic by the godfather of American Manga, Ben Dunn, just for this splash page.

The Hymn

Frank Vincent DuMond — The Hymn — Century Magazine 1900

Her Lust Caused the Trojan War

This 1948 paperback edition of Erskine's 1925 novel, with cover painting by Rudolph Belarski, certainly must have awakened a lot of schoolboys' interest in classical history. Heck, I'm gonna go read up a bit myself.

Belarski, of course, was a popular cover artist for pulps and paperbacks.

Well, I Never . . . Never

One of my favorite areas of Never-Never Land — Mermaid Lagoon.

Admiral Kirk

The Timken Roller Bearing Company commissioned J.C. Leyendecker to paint portraits of war commanders for 1944 war bond ads & posters, of which here are 2 examples.

The geek in me likes to think of this first one of Admiral Kirk as a portrayal of an inspiring ancestor of Admiral James Tiberius Kirk of the 23rd century.

The second one is of General 'Vinegar' Joe Stillwell, who I thought maybe was portrayed in a movie by Karl Malden, but I'm probably mistaken.

Nicolette

Sir William Russell Flint — Nicolette

1920 Rubaiyat

An illustration by Ronald Balfour for a 1920 deluxe signed edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Times Have Certainly Changed

Marjorie Henderson Buell (Marge) was a cartoonist for the Saturday Evening Post when she created Little Lulu for her one panel cartoons. But she still drew other cartoons along the way.

Somewhere in the late 20s, early 30s

Artists Proof

My time is pinched right now, for a number of reasons. I can only post single images here and there that I have already scanned, with little or no commentary. But I'll have some lengthier great stuff in a couple of weeks. You'll be seeing plenty til then, just sort of a miscellaneous potpourri.

This piece is from a portfolio you'll see more of down the road. Gil Kane himself sold me this artist's proof portfolio containing his art and several other cartoonists'. The portfolio didn't live to be published as an edition, for several reasons—mostly copyright problems.

Jungles of the Dawn World

As I've indicated before, I have a 'slush pile' of olden pages that have been sliced out of comics long ago during the golden & silver ages, long before anyone had an inkling that they'd be worth something someday. Some of the pages have been so damaged over the years that scanning entire stories are out of the question. But there are still individual panels worth rescuing. Here are a few by Bob Powell of Cave Girl from various issues, and one panel (riding the birds) that I believe is from a Thund'a story, I'm thinking from issue #5.

A MidSummer-Night's Dream—part 6

Here is my final installment of illustrations by W.H. Robinson for the wonderful full-of-wonder 1914 edition of A MidSummer Night's Dream — certainly one of the highest watermarks of the golden age of book illustration.

Bottom. Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them

to make me afeard.

Titania

I'm sorry to say that my edition is missing 2 of the color plates, so easily lost, as they were just tipped in lightly. Still, we've seen aplenty, thus cease our sorrow.

And so, good night unto you all.

Grand Adventure

What a grand adventure style Bob Lubbers brought to Fiction House comix back in the golden age—full of DANGER, MYSTERY, ACTION, & ROMANCE (and I'm not kidding).

The golden age was so much more than just superheroes. I love the sense of believability and the depth of space and perspective on covers like this:

Kinda Lone Sim

I just thought this one was kinda cute.

There is Mystery About Him

I never tire of looking at Geo Herriman's scratchings. They give my eye such distinct pleasure.

The Odyssey of Homer

Sir William Russell Flint, in his earlier days, used a classic art style to illustrate some of the great classics of literature. And how much more classic can you get than Homer?

It amazes me how time and again, publishers put out editions of classic (but dry) lit, without any illustrations, and no imaginative layout or typography. Those elements help bring a book to life. I think students who wouldn't give Homer a chance, might, if the book was embellished somewhat like this one.