100 Years of Illustration

Oliver Herford's "A Child's Primer of Natural History"

Sorry for the delay in uploading new items this month. 

Thanks very much for your patience.

Click on images to enlarge them.

These were regular monthly features at the back of the book in the Century Magazine.

Above, issue of November 1898, below, issue of January 1899.

Above, issue of January 1899, below, issue of February 1899.

Above, issue of March 1899, below, issue of April 1899.

 

Above, issue of May 1899, below, issue of May 1899, also.

Oliver Herford's Confessions of a Caricaturist

I've been wanting to bring you examples of his work ever since I began this weblog almost five years and over a million hits ago. However, I misplaced the folder and it finally appeared last week while—of course—I searched for something else.

Oliver Herford has been referred to as the American Oscar Wilde, which really doesn't do him justice. For one thing, he married. More importantly, he was a great illustrator, whose visual work was as elegant as his prose. He could draw and he could paint, and write, with great taste, clarity and wit for publishers as well as the theatre.

As an introduction to his timeless humor and artistic skill, I offer this link to his Confessions of a Caricaturist, which has been made available on line by Project Gutenerg.

Herford and his cat, Hafiz, drawn for the book by James Montgomery Flagg.

Enjoy this book. More of Herford's work to come.