Oliver Herford

(1863 - 1935)
British born (but American), a humorist writer, illustrator, who is as well
known for his poems and quotes as for his artwork for books and slicks. For the
latter, a long run in both the Mentor (Jill and Tobey) and Ladies' Home Journal.
Usually signed his art "OHerford." Nicknamed "The American Oscar Wilde."

Books by Oliver Herford

With pictures by the author, published by Charles Scribner's Sons:[3]

• The Bashful Earthquake

• A Child's Primer of Natural History
• Overheard in a Garden
• More Animals
• The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten
• The Fairy Godmother-in-law
• A Little Book of Bores
• The Peter Pan Alphabet
• The Astonishing Tale of a Pen-And-Ink Puppet
• A Kitten’s Garden of Verses

Oliver Herford (1863 - 1935) was a British born American writer, artist and illustrator
who has been called "The American Oscar Wilde".[citation needed] As a frequent contributor to
The Mentor, Life, and Ladies' Home Journal, he sometimes signed his artwork as "O
Herford". In 1906 he wrote and illustrated the "Little Book of Bores". He also wrote short
poems like "The Chimpanzee" and "The Hen", as well as writing and illustrating "The
Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten" (1904) and "Excuse It Please" (1930). His sister Beatrice
Herford was also a humorist.

Ethel Mumford and Addison Mizner wrote a small book The Cynic's Calendar of Revised
Wisdom for 1903 as a Christmas present and added Herford's name as an author as a joke.
The printer made up more copies to sell and to everyone's surprise it was an astounding
success. When Herford found out about it he wanted 90% of the royalties. He was
awarded an equal third[1]

Born: 1863 AD
Died: 1935 AD, at 72 years of age.

Nationality: English
Categories: Illustrators
1863 - Oliver Herford was born.

1906 - He wrote and illustrated the "Little Book of Bores".

- He also wrote short poems like "The Chimpanzee" and "The Hen", as well as
writing and illustrating

1904 - "Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten".

1917 - "Cynic's Calendar".

1930 - "Excuse It Please".

1935 - Oliver Herford died.

Oliver Herford's Confessions of a Caricaturist

I've been wanting to bring you examples of his work ever since I began this weblog almost five
years and over a million hits ago. However, I misplaced the folder and it finally appeared last
week while—of course—I searched for something else.
Oliver Herford has been referred to as the American Oscar Wilde, which really doesn't do him
justice. For one thing, he married. More importantly, he was a great illustrator, whose visual work
was as elegant as his prose. He could draw and he could paint, and write, with great taste, clarity
and wit for publishers as well as the theatre.

Oliver Brooke Herford (1863 - 1935)

Oliver Brooke Herford was born in Sheffield, England on December 1, 1863, son of
Reverend Brooke and Hannah Herford. He was an author, illustrator, cartoonist,
comedian, and poet. He was the third son born, and also had six sisters. Herford had
many artists in his family. His grandmother, who was mainly a farmer, had some ability
in writing and drawing, and taught at a school for girls in Altrincham, which was about
eight miles from Manchester where the Herford's lived. Oliver's father was a well-known
Unitarian minister, editor, and writer. His uncle, William Henry, was also a Unitarian
minister and was famous for his works on educational subjects.
When Oliver Herford was almost twelve years old, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois
so that his father could accept a call to the Church of the Messiah. They stayed in
Chicago for about seven years, and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where his
father would become the pastor of the Arlington Street Church. He served this church for
ten years, and then returned to England. Oliver attended school in Lancaster, England
until he was enrolled in Antioch College, Ohio in 1877. Soon he wanted training in art,
and after studying in Chicago and Boston, he attended Slade School in London and then
studied at Julian's in Paris.
Oliver then returned to the United States, and lived in New York City at 142 East
Eighteenth Street for the next thirty years. His home was not far from the Player's Club,
of which he became a member and often displayed his ability in comedy. He married
Margaret Regan on May 26, 1904, who was born in Manchester England. She had
attended a convent school and moved to the United States to appear in a convent play.
She was also a writer in light verse and had worked with Oliver Herford before their
marriage.
Oliver was a very modest, shy person, and his friends sometimes called him "Elf", "Peter
Pan", or "Ariel". He was said to have always seen a humorous side in anything said or
done, and his thoughts were "swift and shrewd". His choice of words was short and
simple, like his description of a pest, "a man who can talk like an encyclopedia, and
does." Many of his sayings are in dictionaries of similes and quotations. He was a master
of both writing and illustration, especially of young women, children, and animals, which
were said to be his best topic.
The New York Times summed him up by calling him "intelligent, and well-bred what
with his animals and his children and his artistic simplicities he was remote from the style
of the best moderns. No violence, or obscenity, not even obscurity or that long
windedness which is the signet of the illustration writers today. " Oliver Herford died at
the age of seventy-two July 5, 1935. His funeral was held in St. George's Episcopal
Church, and his wife died the following December.