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FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST. The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston Henry Trumbull, May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21. image 1
FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST. The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston Henry Trumbull, May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21. image 2
Thumbnail of FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST. The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston Henry Trumbull, May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21. image 1
Thumbnail of FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST. The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston Henry Trumbull, May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21. image 2
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FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST.
The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston: [Henry Trumbull], May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21.
11 April 2016, 13:00 EDT
New York

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FIRST AMERICAN COMIC LAMPOONS THE WEST.

The Idiot, or, Invisible Rambler. By Samuel Simpleton. Boston: [Henry Trumbull], May 30, 1818. Vol 1, no 21.
Bifolium (294 x 242 mm). Text in 3 columns. Woodcut caricature in masthead, 3 woodcuts in text. Spotting and toning, separation and chipping at centerfold, small chip to lower margin of second leaf.

THE FIRST AMERICAN COMIC appeared in The Idiot in 1818. It is distinguished from earlier, mostly political, cartoons, in that it featured a recurring character who spoke in word balloons. On page three of this pseudonymously published journal appears an illustration of two men meeting each other on horseback: one, finely dressed, sitting erect on a robust steed, declares, "I am going to Ohio;" the other, barefoot in ragged clothes on a stooped nag, replies "I have been." The comic accompanies an installment of the "Journal of Brother Jerry's Tour to the Ohio," a farcical tale set in what was then the Western frontier of Ohio. See "The Pioneer Age" in Overstreet (39th ed).

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