Synopses & Reviews
Poetry Verses by Wilbur D. Nesbit
Afterword by Comics Historian Jeet Heer
A grittier and less sentimental predecessor to Norman Rockwell, Clare Briggs exemplified the larger journey of American society from small-town innocence to urbane sophistication. The son of a farm machinery salesman, Briggs left his rural home as a young man to forge a career as an illustrator and cartoonist, earning success in such big-city papers as The Chicago Examiner, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Tribune. Within a few years, he became one of the most popular and imitated cartoonists in America: Frank King, Milton Caniff, and the first generation of New Yorker cartoonists all emulated Briggs. Eschewing the roughneck humor of early comic strips, Briggs drew low-key strips in two modes: nostalgic reveries focused on memories of small-town boyhood and satirical strips about the squabbles inherent in married life.
First published in 1913 by P. F. Volland and Company of Chicago, Oh Skin-Nay! is a collaboration between Briggs and poet Wilbur D. Nesbit and portrays a year in the life of small-town America through the eyes of the twelve-year-old boy--wood gathering, sleigh rides, games of post office, swimming holes, and sandlot ball games.
This book is presented as a facsimile edition of double-page spreads containing short poems and full-page cartoons as well as an expanded afterword on Briggs by comics historian Jeet Heer.
Synopsis
Originally published in 1913, a collaboration between the noted early twentieth-century cartoonist and poet Wilbur D. Nesbit chronicles a year in the life of small-town America from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy who details a world of sleigh rides, wood gathering, games of post office, swimming holes, and sandlot ball games.
About the Author
Born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in 1875, Clare Briggs died of pneumonia in 1930, after struggling with a nervous disorder that was destroying his optic nerve and ability to draw.