Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 50

Price Realized: $ 875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(CHILDREN'S BOOKS.) The Juvenile Gem, featuring the proto-comic book "The Adventures of Mr. Tom Plump." Heavily illustrated. 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 pages. 12mo, original hand-colored illustrated wrappers, apparently stitched without a backstrip, moderate wear and soiling; minor foxing, lacking rear free endpaper, intermittent moderate wear and faint dampstaining; early owner's pencil signatures on front endpapers. New York: Huestis & Cozans / Philip J. Cozans circa 1855
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Additional Details

This illustrated chapbook contains 6 stories, each with their own title page: "Story of the Little Drummer," "The Two Sisters," "The Picture Book," "The Adventures of Mr. Tom Plump," "Old Mother Mitten and her Funny Kitten," and "The Funny Book." Tom Plump is the star of the show: the story of a boy who goes to California to make his fortune, returns home a failure, grows fat, gets married, and drowns. It is told in 35 small engravings, much like a comic book or graphic novel.

The Juvenile Gem title page is apparently a remainder from the Huestis & Cozans partnership, which dissolved in 1853. It was used to bind together these chapbooks in various combinations, as seen in other examples. These 6 chapbooks were all printed by Cozans at his 107 Nassau Street address, where he moved in May 1855.