F.G. (Francis Gilbert) Attwood (1856-1900) was an early contributor to LIFE and Cosmopolitan magazines. Attwood made his bones as an early editor of the Harvard Lampoon while a student at the university. During his lifetime, he was referred to as the "American John Leech", referring to the great British cartoonist. When Attwood passed away in 1900, his death made national headlines, though he is nearly forgotten today. For over a decade, Attwood drew these wonderful monthly cartoon illustrations for LIFE. They captured some of the main events from that month, always appearing in the following month’s issue. This piece appeared in the September 3, 1891 issue of LIFE. As you can see from the printed version in the additional images, there was always text that accompanied the image. In this particular image, you have a wonderful anniversary image for Punch magazine (with a small Mr. Punch in there), a terrific image of Uncle Sam, and just some flat-out beautiful ink drawing. Yes, there are some glue stains in the piece, though they don’t touch any of the images. My scanner unfortunately makes them darker than they truly are. Even with the stains, this piece is in solid VG condition. Not bad for a piece of 135-year-old piece of art! The artwork measures 15¼”x 12½”. $175.00 + 17.00 first class shipping. SOLD!
