Here's a postcard by Chicago cartoonist Charles Lederer. Although copyrighted in 1905, it was published in 1907 or later because it has a divided back. No maker is credited, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the Monarch Book Company, which published other Lederer cards and used the same typeface for the copyright line.
For those wondering about the gag, it helps to know that old time slang for a really bad cigar was a "rope".
The large white space is obviously to accomodate a message to be written on the face of the card, in keeping with the pre-1907 formulation. So obviously this went into at least two printings. It's pretty ugly, so the gag itself must've made it worth doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested enough in the history of American cartoonists that I visited the U of O cartoonists museum at the campus in Columbus, Ohio five years ago.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I was a scavenger of old material back in my teens and created an eclectic collection of ads and cartoons that I glued to a 22"x 35" poster board that has sat in my stack of photos and art for 60 years. Today, 8-18-2020, I examined that old panel and was reminded of the pieces of Charles Lederer papers I found, and used as insulation in a dilapidated Colorado mining cabin. In that paste-up is a check dated 1908, written to Marshall Fields, for $49.00; signed by Charles Lederer. Also found in the walls were a few illustrations for the Grand old Flag. Today I Mode-Podged the collection to the original substrate, air bubbles and all, only to preserve the old paper.