1925 Johnny Gruelle Cover Art for "The Magical Land of Noom"

I would imagine most people on Comicartfans have no idea who Johnny Gruelle is. Besides being the creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy, he was a major children's book artist, an early comic strip artist(Mr. Twee Deedle, Brutus and others), a toy mogul and more.
One of Gruelle's major books was "The Magical Land of Noom", published in 1925. A marvelous fantasy for children, and one of the books which places him in the uppermost echelon of 20th Century book illustrators.
I turned into a Gruelle fan in the late 1970's-early '80's when George Hagenauer showed up at one of the Chicago Mini-Con with a bunch of art by Gruelle and Frederick Richardson, Lang Campbell and others, all from the archives of the M.A. Donohue Publishing house. Over the years I've had a number of Gruelle originals pass through my hands.
Imagine my shock, when last week, one of my good friends called me to tell me he was at a little auction and this major piece of Gruelle art was there. Surprisingly there was a fair amount of interest, but my friend was able to purchase the piece and was kind enough to let me buy it from him(at a substantial profit). Needless to say, I am thrilled to own a Gruelle cover, no matter the price, and a major one at that.
If you are not familiar with Gruelle, check out his work, as it is all gorgeously done and has a wonderful fantasy flair, incredible color and marvelous linework. It is past due for a collection of his marvelous SUnday pages.
Thanks, Ron!