DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND

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DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND
The Saturdays
Volume 1
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WINSOR MCCAY
CHECKER BOOK PUBLISHING GROUP
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“HE
WAS SO FAR AHEAD OF HIS TIME THAT MANY OF
HIS INNOVATIONS WERE BEYOND THE ABILITIES OF HIS
CONTEMPORARIES.
WHAT
HE HAD DISCOVERED AND
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DEMONSTRATED... HAD TO BE REDISCOVERED DECADES
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LATER BY THE NEXT GENERATION OF CARTOONISTS.”
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R.C. HARVEY,
IN HIS
“THE ART
OF THE
FUNNIES”
McCay, Winsor, 1867-1934
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend
Second printing
Copyright 2007
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DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND:
THE SATURDAYS
DREAM
OF THE
SATURDAYS
RAREBIT FIEND: THE
SOLD OUT ITS FIRST PRINT RUN
WHILE STILL ON THE PRESSES.
DISAPPOINT,
CHECKER BOOKS
SO
AS NOT TO
NOW OFFERS
THIS SECOND EDITION SOFTCOVER FOR THOSE
WHO WERE AS SURPRISED AS WE WERE WHEN WE SOLD OUT EVERY
SINGLE COPY OF AN OBSCURE TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY COMIC STRIP,
ALBEIT BY THE GREATEST COMIC ARTIST OF ALL TIME.
THE
SHEER INNOVATION OF
WINSOR MCCAY’S
EVEN
TODAY
IMAGES STILL LEAPS
OFF THE PAGE. IN THE DAYS BEFORE HIGH DEF SATELLITE AND THE
NEXT ANIMATED BLOCKBUSTER,
WINSOR MCCAY’S
WEEKEND FORAYS
INTO THE SURREAL, TOGETHER WITH HIS TWO WEEKDAY
FIENDS,
WERE ALMOST SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SALES OF A MAJOR
NEWSPAPER.
MCCAY
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WAS A MASTER ILLUSTRATOR WHO WANTED TO RISE ABOVE
HIS CONTEMPORARIES. HE SUCCEEDED. HE INTERTWINED THE STORY-
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LINES OF THE RUN-OF-THE-MILL, FLAWED HUMANITY WITH THE SUBCONSCIOUS MOTION, TWINGE OF REGRET AND THE GASP OF BREATH
RIGHT BEFORE A SCREAM, TAKING US TO A STRANGE NEW WORLD
THAT, SOMEHOW, WASN’T ALL THAT UNFAMILLIAR.
THE
BROADER FORMAT RAN IN THE
TELEGRAM’S SATURDAY
WHICH WERE SIMILAR TO TODAY’S EXPANDED
THE TIME THE
TELEGRAM
RAREBIT FIEND
SLUMBERLAND
HAD NO
SUNDAY
ISSUES
EDITIONS.
SUNDAYS. MCCAY’S DREAM
WAS A PRECURSOR TO HIS
LITTLE NEMO
AT
OF THE
IN
AND SET A HIGH BAR THAT FANTASY ARTISTS MANY
GENERATIONS LATER ARE STILL STRIVING TO CLEAR.
SWEET DREAMS,
CAMMIE LEDBETTER
GRAPHIC ARTIST & ASSOCIATE EDITOR
CHECKER BPG
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