Brian Coppola :: Late 19th/Early-to-Mid 20th C cartoonists & illustrators

“M’Liss” (p34) in “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1893) by FC Yohn

Artist: FC Yohn (All)

2 Comments - 446 Views - 1 Like

“M’Liss” (p34) in “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1893) by FC Yohn Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	“M’Liss” (p34) in “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1893) by FC Yohn
Artist:	FC Yohn (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	446
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	2
Added to Site:	5/15/2019
Comic Art Archive:

Description

“M’Liss” (p34) in “The Luck of Roaring Camp” (1893)
by F C Yohn (1875-1933)
8 x 11 in., ink, wash, and gouache on board

A renowned painter of historical themes, Frederick Coffay “FC” Yohn’s illustration work appeared regularly, in the early 1900s, in publications including Scribner’s Magazine, McClure’s, Harper’s Magazine, and Collier’s Weekly.
Illustrations such as this one were common in his work between 1910-1920, with examples in all of these magazines. This example is not marked for time or place.

Yohn is noted for his strong sense of anatomy, detail, and spatial composition.

I know something but not everything about this illustration.

Bret Harte was an American author who was famous for his stories about the California Gold Rush. In 1870, he published “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” which became one of his headliner stories when his collected works were published, later, starting in 1882. One of these other takes was “M’liss: An Idyl of Red Mountain,” the story of an orphaned girl who ends up in a mining community.

The early version of M’Liss ran for four chapters in a newspaper (1852) turned literary journal (1860) called “The Golden Era” (for which Harte, who worked at the paper, was made the founding editor, 1860-1863, before breaking off to start his own publication). The printed version of the 4-chapter story was about 30 pages long. In 1863, Harte expanded the story to 10 chapters and it also appeared in “The Golden Era.”

M'liss was dramatized several times in the 1870s as a stage play, in a role originated by an actress names Annie Pixley. When Pixley died, the first line of her obituatary was “M’Liss is dead.”

M’Liss, and the Harte collection, was reprinted many times, and was still popular when the moving picture shows started. The second (silent) movie version (1918) started Mary Pickford as M’Liss (a watchable copy exists on the internet). The story is renamed to “The Girl who Ran Wild,” and it was filmed again in 1922 and 1936.

I cannot locate the source for this image, but here is what I know. First, the ink wash drawing is dated 1893. Second, it is the story of M’Liss and it appeared in one of the “The Luck of Roaring Camp & other sketches” collections. Houghton Mifflin published a 292 pp collection in 1894 and in 1899, and it included the 4-chapter version of M’Liss (pp 30-79). But it is purely text.

I saw an edition published by J J Little and Ives that had a frontispiece illustration, but the image was not distinct in the picture.

The Yohn drawing is p 34 of M’Liss, and the line of dialog “I’ll go with the play-actors, or I’ll eat this and die hear,” is unique to the shorter, 4-chapter version. It comes about 3 paragraphs before the end.

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	Brian Coppola Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	March 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Roger K.
Member Since 2005
Forum Moderator

Posted on 5/15/2019

Beautiful!

Brian Coppola
Member Since 2009

Posted on 5/15/2019

Roger K. wrote:

Beautiful!

Thanks, RK. Given its popularity and the solid date, I am surprised that I have not been able to track down an illustrated version of the story. I've run out of obvious tricks.

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