Andy's Early Comics Archive

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Wilhelm Busch
Bilderbogen

The Warm Bath (1865) Bilderbogen number 278 - wordless (and as it happens, fairly plotless as well, just a neat piece of observation)

The Flea (1865) Bilderbogen number 390 - wordless - alternative title: .Disturbed and Refound Peace of Night'

The Virtuoso (1865) Bilderbogen number 465 -more or less wordless - Astonishing page, which was to influence many artists, for instance H.M.Bateman.

The Baber and his clever dog (1865) Bilderbogen number 399 - wordless - Nasty little strip, not quite the 'Barber of Fleet Street', but well on the way. Was imitated in Alley Sloper album.

The Little Honey Thieves (1859) Bilderbogen number 242 - The first appearance of two Katzenjammer Kids type rapscallions. It's in the format of an illustrated story, but the pictures work as a comic on their own. The art is a mixture of the detailed illustration of the time in the backgrounds and the already snappy characterisation of the figures. - The start of 'big nose cartooning'.

The Hollow Tooth (1865) Bilderbogen number 330 - uses some text underneath, but that's basically repeating what the pictures show. - This comic was surely directly inspired by the similar one by Cruikshank.

Der Bauer und sein Schwein (The peasant and his pig)

Der kleine Maler mit der grossen Mappe (The little painter with the large portfolio) This early Bilderbogen (1859) still uses the romantic drawing style of the foremost illustrator at the time, Ludwig Richter (Grimms Fairy Tales etc).

Der Bauer und der Windmüller (The Peasant and the Miller) (two Bilderbogen in sequence)

Der vergebliche Versuch (Returning home after New Year's Eve...) (1865) (from Fliegende Blätter vol.46)

Der Katzenjammer am Neujahrsmorgen (The hangover on Newyear's Day) (1866)

Der schöne Ritter' (The handsome Knight) (1866)