An interesting gallery here of images from the history of medicine with sections for illustration, propaganda, and cartoons. Fascinating stuff. Go look.

And stay away from those tootsies.

Hat Tip: Brickmuppet.

The producers of The Radio City LOTR Concert and the Official Fan Committee are pleased to present a weekend packed with LOTR happenings!
Scheduled events include:

• The official release of Doug Adams’ new book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films
• Pre-concert talks and post-concert signing sessions with Howard Shore and Doug Adams
• Discussion with Tolkien linguist David Salo, who translated all choral lyrics for The Lord of the Rings scores
• Illustrator/artist Colleen Doran talks about her work
• The Hobbit films preview/discussion – Join fans for a chat!

More to be announced soon…

Catch updates on:

http://twitter.com/RadioCityLOTR

http://www.myspace.com/theradiocitylotrconcerts

(Actually, I will be lecturing on Tolkien illustration and art in general, but I’ll be showing a few pieces, including some new and unpublished works! So excited!!!)

The famous Gerber baby, the chubby-cheeked infant who has graced Gerber food products for nearly 8 decades, has been incorrectly identified time and again as a portrait of the infant Humphrey Bogart, classic film actor. His mother, Maud Humphrey Bogart, was a successful illustrator. She often used little Humphrey in her pictures, and once used his baby face to advertise Mellin’s baby food.

However, Humphrey Bogart was nearly thirty-years-old when Gerber began manufacturing baby food.

The real Gerber baby has a comics connection.

She’s Ann Cook (nee Turner), daughter of comic strip creator Leslie Turner, the man who wrote Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy for a whopping 27 years. The original baby sketch was by the artist Dorothy Hope Smith. She submitted the sketch and was paid $300 for it. It became the official Gerber trademark in 1931. Ann Cook was paid a cash settlement of $5,000 for the use of her image in 1951.

Cook became a mystery writer and lives in Florida.

Photo from Anne Turner Cook’s website.

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Scholars have found a 13th century manuscript which makes an unflattering reference to Robin Hood. Apparently, his merry adventures were not merry to all how encountered him.

Translated, the 550-year-old note reads: ‘Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies.’

Russell Crowe is to play Robin Hood in an upcoming film.

The linked article has very little info, but the pics are nice.

An illustration from the 1883 edition of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, written and illustrated by Howard Pyle, scanned directly from the book. This is my favorite version of the tale.

This book is in the public domain. You may download it for free at Ebooktakeaway.com

You may find other Howard Pyle classics at this link, including The Story of the Champions of the Round Table, and Men of Iron. Men of Iron spawned a film starring Tony Curtis, who spoke these words in his thick urban New York/New Jersey accent; “Yondah, lies da castle of my foddah.”

Early editions of these books are worth tracking down for the beautiful bindings and lavish illustrations. You can find them at reasonable prices on ebay. Beware of cheaper, later editions which are sometimes heavily edited or feature the illustrations of other artists. Worse yet, the handsome plates are sometimes removed from the books.

Below, the cover of the first edition of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Pyle.

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Major eye candy at the Heritage Galleries Illustration Art Auction. Delicious Leyendeckers. Yummy.

And this tasty morsel from Mead Schaeffer:

Nom, nom, nom!

More pics going up at the site over the next few days, so check back for updates. There are a number of Mike Kaluta originals ready to post. Feast your eyes!