Buster Brown and His Resolutions
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1903. First Edition. Wrappers. 1st edition. 68 huge pages (16 1/4” X 11 1/4”), printed in full color, rectos only. Though it was preceded in newspaper strips by Outcault’s Yellow Kid, Buster was the first comic character to have his strips collected in a book sold nationwide (by Sears & Roebuck). Original clothbacked wrappers, half the blank back cover is gone, and the front cover has tears and chips, but it collates complete, it’s integral, and it’s in good condition, and seldom seen. Overstreet’s guide calls it rare, rates it among the Top 10 Platinum Age Books, and values it at $1,600 graded 2.0, but as the first ever, its significance is unsurpassable. Once in a long lifetime a fine copy comes along. Until it does, I’d like to sell you this one. good. Item #477
Outcault created Buster Brown, his sweetheart Mary Jane, his dog Tige (the first talking animal in comics), and a supporting cast. He drew the first strips, for Joseph Pulitzar’s N.Y. Herald, starting on May 4, 1902. This book followed in 1903. It was reprinted later that year in London, and in the U. S. along with other Buster Brown books in the years following, but ours is the real 1st edition. In 1906, William Hearst coaxed Outcault away from Pulitzer (George Washington said, “Few men have enough virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”). Undeterred, The Herald just stole the characters, and a legal food fight ensued when they hired other artists to draw a competing Buster Brown, while Outcault continued to draw the strip for Hearst’s newspapers. Finally, in 1911, Pulitzer gave up.
Price:
$800.00