Collections

This collection contains a small quarto (9 1/8 X 7 1/2 inches) of over a hundred caricatures created by Ange Denis M'Quin (Ange-Denis Macquin) (1756-1823). A pen and ink manuscript title page that reads "A Series of Heads by A.D.M." with a roundel of sixteen heads is dated at the lower right-hand corner, "June 1819." An index follows with four handwritten pages and then a sub-title page, "A congeries of heads, May 1819," with a quote from Macbeth and an illustration of heads drawn together as a sphere.

This collection contains a scroll of cartoon characters drawn by an unknown child, likely from sometime in the 1940s to the 1950s. The manila paper scroll is 3.25 inches in width and approximately 70 feet long. The outward-facing side of the scroll has about 250 individual illustrations depicting mid-century characters like Elmer Fudd, Dick Tracey, Archie, Popeye, and Donald Duck, as well as other characters from comic books, Sunday strips, television, and movies. The reverse is blank. The majority of the drawings are completed in graphite and colored pencils

Edgar Wentwork archive of primary material documenting the career of a little-known American cartoon illustrator from 1886 to 1912. There are original cartoons and related correspondence containing approximately 295 pen and ink drawings and sketches, 125 illustrations,170 loose drawings, including his personal album, "Original Pen & Pencil Sketches, A Book of the Etiquette of the Day, by Ed. Wentworth, 1886."

This collection contains eight original pen, ink, and watercolor sketches with initials by the English caricaturist John Leech (1816-1864). Illustrated roughly around 1840, each illustration depicts his observations of daily British life of the lower and middle classes: on the street, in taverns, and at home. All contain captions related to the image, and some have titles in addition to their caption. These titles include "A Speculation," "On the Boulevards," "A Toothless Trio," "A Learned Trio," and "The Moustache Movement."

A small hand-written and illustrated manuscript diary compiled by Commander LB Watts, RNR (Royal Navy Reserve) on his World War I and later service that holds details and information on the merchant ship, HMS City of London. The diary contains detailed lists of officers and men, armaments and technical diagrams, maps, newspaper clippings, and annotated cartoons.

This collection contains an illustrated manuscript by John R. Abbit that tells the comic story of a mother louse and her children traveling across the bodies of American soldiers in the First World War. The manuscript measures 6 X 5 inches and contains thirty-one pages in its original blue wrappers. The spine is punched with grommets and bound with red ribbon. The dedication page is typed in red ink, and the volume contains fifteen pen-and-ink drawings initialed "J. R. A.," interleaved with facing; the verse is typed in red and black. The cover, handwritten in black and red ink, reads "Leaves from the War Diary of a Cootie Transcribed by John R. Abbit." The dedication reads, "To the many soldiers on whom I have lived and with whom I have fought. Parisita Pediculus Vestmenti." The narration is from the point of view of the louse, and there are fifteen entries in the diary. Each entry contains a dated typed diary entry detailing the life and experiences of the lice family and a pen and ink illustration based on the report. The narrative unfolds during September 1918. We follow the lice family as they move to the front lines. "Thank goodness we have at last reached the Front- A Cooties Rest Cure!" A favored place due to the lack of cleanliness where "Every day in the Trenches improves the flavor of this man." It continues as the cooties encounter the soldier's interventions, from a "Finger and Thumb" attack to hot water and soap at the hospitals to fleeing wounded soldiers. It humorously communicates valuable information about disease prevention. There is little information about the author-illustrator.

This collection contains a private collection of approximately one hundred cartoons and caricatures of World War I propaganda that were cut out of magazines and pasted in a blank book. Most of the cartoons are written in German, but some are in Hungarian. Many are printed in color, but there are privately printed carbon copies too.

This collection contains an anonymous sketchbook containing a highly illustrated handwritten gothic story, additional watercolor paintings, and numerous pen and ink sketches. The primary story pertains to a horse race between the devil and death that takes place on March 12, 1830. It is likely a satire on the first English National Steeplechase, which was run in Bedfordshire on March 8, 1830, and was the precursor of the Grand National race at Aintree. Nine full-page watercolors are devoted to the primary gothic steeplechase story, each with a narrative on the facing page. The story is a morbid variant of the turtle and the hare fable, with the Devil taking an auspicious start but as the Devil relaxes, the Death recovers, catches up and wins, and celebrates his victory by throwing his head (which is a skull) in the air and catching it. In addition to the steeplechase illustrated story, there are three other watercolors of riding, two of these in a steeplechase or a foxhunt. There are also eleven other pages with pen and ink drawings, in varying states of finish, plus three pages heavy with text, and the endpapers are filled with sketches. The other illustration includes a page of silhouettes, which are on military or equestrian themes. Also in the manuscript is a four-page rendering of the Tragedy" from the Ingoldsby Legends" which recounts the story of Catherine of Cleves.