World Encyclopedia of Cartoons II

More old-timey stuff from 1980's The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons

The Arkansas Trapper's Mistake by Caran D'Ache circa 1875, also featured in one of the early issues of Mad

Even back then they were doing shit jokes.





The Tail Maketh the Dog ca. 1880, by Frank “Chip” Bellew.


An Explosive Hug, also by Frank “Chip” Bellew.


by A. B. Frost , 1884. A collection of his stuff recently came out from Fantagraphics.





T. T. Heine for Simplicissimus in 1896.


Adolphe Willette, cover for L'Assiette au Beurre(A Plate of Butter)


From the Terrytoons series Aesop's Fables





from Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feelin' by Clare Briggs for the New York Tribune

I couldn't find a link to the strip, but the encyclopedia had this to say about it:
“AIN'T IT A GRAND AND GLORIOUS FEELIN' is among Clare Briggs's most fondly remembered slice-of-life newspaper panels. It appeared in sequential form (usually six panels o the page) on an irregular basis, alternating with other Briggs creations such as When a Feller Needs a Friend and The Days of Real Sport. There was no continuing cast of characters.

“Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feelin'? started appearing in the New York Tribune around 1917 (although the concept had undergone a dry run as early as 1912 under another title in the Chicago Tribune). The panel celebrated those small, everyday moments of serendipity that come as a sharp relief after a moment of fright, embarrassment, or frustration. Thus “ain't it a grand and glorious feelin'” when some housewife discovers that her lost wallet was found at the grocer's, or when some poor bookkeeper goes to bed with a clear mind after the errors in his books has been rectified? The feature addressed itself directly (“When you've been reading about a terrible kidnapping...”, Briggs would intone in the beginning, for instance) and always concluded on an upbeat note. Grand and Glorious Feelin' was tremendously popular during the 1920s, a decade it seemed whose mood it seemed to match perfectly, and the title became a popular catchphrase of the time.

“After Briggs died in 1930 the panel was discontinued, although some newspapers would reprint it occasionally. Long runs of the feature have been republished regularly over the years in cartoon anthologies, as well as in collections of Briggs's works.”

Sounds like “Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feelin'?” was the “Yeah, baby!” of its time, which begs the question, what's the current “Yeah, baby!”?

Oskar Andersson a/k/a “O.A.”