1900 Press Artists League R F Outcault Yellow Kid Comic Gilded Age Ephemera For Sale

1900 Press Artists' League invitation to Andrew Zabriskie. This invitation dated April 14, 1900 from the Waldorf Astoria. It documents New York City's Gilded Age history, early American illustration, and comic strip journalism. The top-left corner features highly detailed, beautiful art nouveau typography and illustration. The "Name-Dropping" The text explicitly names Gilded Age tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, George J. Gould, Wm. C. Whitney, and H. O. Havemeyer as patrons. It also lists early newspaper comic pioneers on the committee—most notably R.F. Outcault, the creator of The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown (widely considered the founding father of the American comic strip).The Backstory Interest: The letter is signed by the league's treasurer, George M. Baxter. Historically, Baxter was a somewhat controversial figure who was later accused in contemporary newspapers of using the Press Artists' League as a sketchy fundraising front to solicit wealthy patrons. This adds a fascinating layer of NYC "Gilded Age drama" for history buffs. On the flipside of this paper is a picture and article of the sale of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in 1900. This is an original invitation and article from the scrapbook of Andrew Christian Zabriskie who was the president of the American Numismatic Society in 1900. See pics