Click main image below to view enlargements and captions.

Illustration Art, Brownies Year Book, Palmer Cox, 12 Antique Prints, 1895

$900

Palmer Cox (1840-1924) (after)
[12 Months of Brownies Activities]
from Brownie Year Book
McLoughlin Bro’s., New York: 1895
Chromolithographs
12 x 10 inches each
$900, Set of 12

The Brownies, fictional characters from Victorian children’s book author and artist Palmer Cox, are shown in a series of humorus situations in this set of prints, one for each month. In March, they try their best to fly kites; in April, they dash for shelter from the rain; in July they overload a hammock; and so forth. Characters from Cox’s series of Brownies books, such as Uncle Sam, appear in these illustrations. Great decorations for a child’s room.

Description

Palmer Cox introduced his Brownie characters in 1883, and parlayed them into a tremendous publishing and merchandising success. Growing up in Granby, Quebec, in Canada, Cox’s family told him Scottish folktales about brownies, members of the fairy world who help with house and farm chores while the household sleeps. Cox’s own charming and whimsical rendition of these sprites evolved into a series of 13 books, in which he developed a cast of over 40 of Brownies with distinct features and personalities. He also licensed his characters to major advertisers such as Ivory Soap and for the manufacture of a broad range of commercial products: postcards, toys, games, printed muslin stuffed doll kits, carpets, wallpapers, school supplies, complete dinner sets and calendars. Perhaps the most famous marketing tie-in was the Brownie camera, which Eastman-Kodak devised as a simple camera for children and initially marketed with Cox’s characters in its ads.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, soiling, handling.

Reference:

“The Brownie World of Palmer Cox.” McGill University. 20 October 1997. http://www.mcgill.ca/releases//1997/october/cox (29 August 2002).

Additional information

Century

19th Century