Little Nemo in Slumberland 1908-09 Winsor McCay Sunday comic pages x 40 album

(Old Books, Early 20th Century Books, Americana, Comic Strips, Winsor McCay, New York Herald, Little Nemo in Slumberland).

Little Nemo in Slumberland, by Winsor McCay.
Published 1908 (July 19th first issue) -1909, New York by New York Herald & Boston Sunday Post. Contemporary early 20th century assembly album, an interrupted long assorted run of Sunday comic pages.
256 pages (128 leaves w/ comics affixed to both sides, 40 complete Sunday pages very carefully dissected and mounted into their sequential panels). Text in English. 

Early 20th century oblong comic scrapbook album, cloth spine, paper covered boards. Sturdy bond-type backing paper, each story artistically (thoughtfully) mounted on both sides with original sequential Sunday comic page panels.

An early comic strip aficionado has very carefully cut apart 40 different Sunday newspaper pages and then artistically mounted all the panels to create, in essence, a custom comic book that can be read. 

Although one might initially object to this dissection process, in truth the large (huge) Sunday comic pages were unwieldy and almost impossible to save properly since the size exceeded any normal scrapbook then available and if folded would have age browned and eventually disintegrated. Thus, ironically, this early custom album is in fact one of the best ways to preserve the Sunday page strips for history. It has protected the inherently acidic newspaper, keeping the colors relatively fresh and original to their initial appearance. Literally among the earliest "comic books" produced within the country, this being an amateur production.

Because it is potentially unique, and has far more color images than the two very rare Nemo reprint compilation albums produced (which only had 30 pages each and now sell in the $1500-$5000 range- see Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide), one could readily posit an album such as this is a fantastic and very desirable comic history item. This page count dwarfs that format and presents the strips "as they initially appeared to the public", on the newspaper print as issued, not reissued for the album. For the Platinum Age comic collector (or anyone else) who has everything, they do not have a custom Winsor McCay Sunday comic album book lovingly created by an early comic collector around the time they appeared. 

A truly spectacular one-of-a-kind Winsor McCay comic piece that borders on folk-art.

Album is old and shows clear signs of handling and time. Book is not new or in "new" condition.

Binding well age worn, covers stained and scuffed with some paper loss to surface of boards, album remains overall sound. Paper remains supple and sturdy, not the acidic paper typical of many early scrapbooks, a pleasure to flip through.

Paper is gently toned, tight, sound internally, various normal signs of old glue, age, random use of book, browsing, etc. Vast majority of images remain clean, any flaws or defects present (minimal) being easy to forgive or overlook.

The album displays a pleasing and unique age patina and is in overall very nice antiquarian condition, especially given the nature of the paper and how virtually all old newspapers were recycled or lost to time. Any age flaws which may be present seem easy to overlook or forgive. 

Please review photos for more detail showing how this one-of-a-kind album survives. The asking price reflects the condition based on our examination and 35+ years full time exposure to antiquarian books, maps and printed ephemera of all types and genres. Any flaws seen and/ or described have been taken into account with pricing.

Book Measures c. 7" H x 13" W.

[B8825].