Stuff & Nonsense Fantagraphics Books 2003

"Stuff and Nonsense" by Arthur Burdett Frost (1851 - 1928) reprints three volumes of picture stories that the American artist originally drew for magazines including Harper's Weekly and Harper's New Monthly, according to the book's preface by Thierry Smolderen. Frost gained fame as an illustrator and a painter, and notably illustrated two books written by Lewis Carroll: "Rhyme? And Reason?" and "A Tangled Tale." Frost drew several other comic strips and picture stories uncollected in this volume, but relevant examples appear throughout Smolderen's introduction. The stories in the current volume were originally compiled into three separate books: "Stuff and Nonsense" (1884); "The Bull Calf and Other Tales" (1892); and "Carlo" (1913). (Further references to "Stuff and Nonsense" will refer to the current Fantagraphics edition and not the original volume, unless so specified).

"Stuff and Nonsense" is a historical reprint volume that also marks a bit of recent history. The book is a bilingual co-edition, published collaboratively by Thierry Groensteen's Éditions de l'An 2 and Fantagraphics Books. The interior pages are identical in either edition, with parallel French and English text; the differences between the American and French editions are the title (the book is called "L'Anthologie A. B. Frost" in France) and the cover design. Relevant to this particular issue of Indy Magazine, the book's French edition is one of the inaugural nominees in the "Prix du Patrimoine de la Bande Dessinée" category of this year's "Prix d'Angoulême" festival awards. This may mark the first instance in which a new book nominated for an Angoulême festival prize is simultaneously available and legible in the U.S. and France. More importantly, "Stuff and Nonsense" is the first of what will hopefully be more historical editions resulting from the recent international research into nineteenth century picture stories in the tradition often associated with Rodolphe Töpffer.  continue...