Buy this book on-line

Töpffer, Rodolphe : The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck

NY: Wilson and Company, 1849., 1849

First printing thus. Oblong 8vo. 8 5/8" x 5 5/8. 80 pages, sewn in signatures. Front and back covers illustrated. Illustrated throughout in B & W. From the front cover: "Done with Drawings by Timothy Crayon, Gypsographer. 188 Comic Etchings on Antimony." This is the first printing of the "book" version published in the year 1849 (date stated on title page); the 1842 first edition was a newspaper supplement. Written and illustrated by the Swiss caricaturist Rodolphe Töpffer, it was created in 1827 and published first in Geneva, Switzerland in 1837 as Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois, then in London in 1841 by the English translation published by Tilt and Bogue as The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, and then in New York, in a newspaper supplement titled Brother Jonathan Extra No. IX (September 14, 1842), followed by an 1849 publication in book form titled The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, by Wilson and Company in New York. It is referred to as the first comic book published in the U.S. and also the first newspaper comic. Oldbuck is rightly considered the holy grail for comic book collectors. Whereas OCLC currently lists the 1842 edition in 12+ libraries worldwide, zero copies of the 1849 edition are held by libraries according to their database. This book is in the rare original wrappers, which have age toning. There are two approx. 1 x 1 triangular chips at the top corners of the front panel at the backstrip (not affecting the cover illustration), and several other very small edge chips at the bottom edges of the front and back panels; the backstrip also has a few very tiny chips but is mostly present; the front and rear panels are only partially separated. There are two old cellophane tape strips extending approx. 1/2 onto front panel, across the backstrip and approx. 1 onto the rear panel. The contents are complete, very bright and clear of foxing; it has not been rebound. Overall, given the fragility of the publication, this is a very good minus/good copy and rare thus.. Book Condition: Good. Binding: Soft cover

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.