February 2021 Catalogue

B a u m a n R a r e B o o k s B l a c k A m e r i c a n a 2 0 2 1 45 Presentation First Edition Of Nipper , Inscribed By Turner, Creator Of Wee Pals , With Original Sketch By Him 60. TURNER, Morrie. Nipper. Philadelphia, 1970. Octavo, original pictorial green and yellow paper boards. $800. C lick for M ore I nfo First edition of Turner’s lively book about his pioneering Black cartoon figure, Nipper, the lead character of his Wee Pals comic strip, here capturing the joy of baseball, where Nipper’s mishaps on the field prompt him to instead “study hard” and become “another Frederick A. Douglass,” an exceptional presentation copy boldly inscribed: “To C—, C— and J—Morrie Turner,” with his original sketch of Nipper. Turner “broke the color barrier twice—as the first African-American comic strip artist whose work was widely syndicated in mainstream newspapers, and as the creator of the first syndicated strip with a racially and ethnically mixed cast of characters.” In the early 1960s Turner and Charles Schulz met and became close friends. “One day Turner lamented the lack of Black characters in newspaper comics, and Schulz suggested he try to do one… In the imaginary world Turner created, a diminutive African- American boy named Nipper” ( New York Times ). Turner’s comic strip, Wee Pals , was early seen as subversive and widely rejected by newspapers, but after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., newspapers quickly began subscribing to it. A fine copy.