Herriman, George [Krazy Kat] *

I'm not sure how I first became aware of and began to like George Herriman's Krazy Kat. I know it was before 1977, when one of my college professors showed me his copy of e.e. cumming's book on the strip [on which my professor's cat had relieved itself!] I later obtained my own copy, which is in much better condition! But it took me a long time, twenty years, before I finally found an original Kat that I wanted enough to purchase. After that first one, which had been the cover piece on one of Russ Cochran's catalogues, I bought quite a few more in rapid succession. I even bid the highest amount for another one [which may still be shown on CAF] which turned up in a Cochran's sale only to learn that he sold it to someone who bid less! Russ didn't really explain himself; he only said that the one I bought from him a few months earlier was better. Ohh K. Over the years, I sold off a couple of my earliest Kat purchases to buy other pieces of art, but I am happy with the ones I have kept. I greatly prefer examples from about 1917 (when the characters had assumed their standard looks) to 1919 (when there were still very innovative compositions, which become less common starting in 1920). I was very fortunate to obtain my 1919 large panel strip, which is unique among the strips colored by Herriman, and the sets of late watercolors in Herriman designed frames satisfy my need for a late image of Krazy Kat and other subjects of some interest.