Books and Manuscripts

Opper, F(rederick Burr).
A Museum of Wonders and What the Young Folks Saw There Explained in Many Pictures
London and New York: George Routledge & Sons, 1884. First edition. Folio. Profusely illustrated with color lithographs. Publisher's quarter red cloth over glazed pictorial boards, extremities rubbed, lower front and rear joints split, rear upper joint split; front hinge worn; front free endpaper starting, contemporary gift inscription in pencil on same; scattered very light soiling to text. 

An entertaining and early work by pioneering American cartoonist Frederick Burr Opper. Illustrating a Museum of Wonders, Opper's work guides the reader through a show of curiosities, with color lithographs illustrating numerous exhibitions, including “Wonders of the Heavens,” a “Magician,” “Long-Haired Lady,” “Silhouette Cutter,” “Sea Serpent,” “Ventriloquist,” “Living Skeleton," “Learned Pig,” “Distorting Mirror,” and more. 

Opper was a groundbreaking cartoonist of American newspaper comic strips, with his characters appearing in numerous publications for over six decades, from the late 19th century to the 1930s. Beginning his career at Puck Magazine (1880-99), Opper established himself as an innovative cartoonist while working for William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal, where he first introduced his most popular comic strip, Happy Hooligan. 

A very well preserved and sharp example of a book typically found in poor condition.