[Rarebooks] FS: The first American comic book!! "Journey to the Gold Diggings" Cincinnati: 1849

[Kenneth Karmiole]

(CALIFORNIA) Read, James A. and Donald F. Read. JOURNEY TO THE GOLD DIGGINGS, by Jeremiah Saddlebags. Illustrated by J. A. and D. F. Read. Cincinnati: U. P. James. (1849). Oblong 12mo. 63,(1)pp.  Pictorial title-page followed by 112 illustrations, with accompanying lines of descriptive text. Original printed illustrated wrappers, a bit soiled, but unusually nice with the printed word "Saddlebags" on the spine not chipped. A very nice copy but for an old brown water stain at the outer margin of the first 40 pages. The stain is in the blank margin except for the first 10 pages where it just touches the edge of the illustration. With the bookplate of California collector Thomas Wayne Norris. Housed in a red cloth folder.    $8,500.00 (trade discount allowed)
First edition, the preferred Cincinnati issue (a New York issue appeared the same year). This remarkable book has been called "The first known American made original comics publication." A classic spoof on the adventures of the Forty-Niners. Howes R92; Cowan II p. 523; Graff 3432; Streeter 2591.

Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, Inc.
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