little nemo in ypsilanti

The kids at Boing Boing are raving about the new, extra-large edition of “Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays.” It’s $120 bucks, but it looks like it’s worth every penny. I can’t afford to get it, but I’m thinking that perhaps, if a few of us could write to the Ypsi puiblic library and petition them to buy a copy, they might order a copy. Seeing as how Winsor McCay, one of the most influential cartoon artists in the world, learned to draw while living here in Ypsilanti, attending Michigan State Normal College (now EMU), it seems like something they would have to have in their permanent collection (right alongside a copy of the Stooges’ “Raw Power”), right? Or, better yet, what if we took up an online collection? I bet we could raise $120 without too much effort… and the community would be a better place for it.

Here’s a clip from the Boing Boing review:

I just bought a copy of the astonishing Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays, the single largest book I’ve ever owned, and quite possibly the most enchanting…

These strips, orginally published in breakfast-table-hogging broadsheets, were watercolor masterpieces, huge paintings that depicted the weekly dreamland adventures of Little Nemo, tripping through fantastic, surreal worlds that McKay brought vividly to life. Each page ends with a charming corner panel in which Nemo’s mother wakes him for school, making Slumberland vanish…

Anyone want to chip in a dollar?

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6 Comments

  1. ol' e cross
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 7:44 am | Permalink

    You could also see about getting the EMU library (where Ypsi residents have borrowing priveledges) to order a copy.

    I’m not sure exactly how it works, but if the request came from a faculty, it might carry more weight…

    http://brand.emich.edu/cgi-bin/bookrequest.cgi

  2. murph
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 9:23 am | Permalink

    I’ll chip in $5 on the condition that the book live at the downtown library, and not the postmodern sneeze that is the Whittaker branch.

  3. It's Skinner Again
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 11:35 am | Permalink

    I’ve seen that book; it’s breathtaking. I wish I could afford it. Get those dollars!

  4. terrygilmer
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 9:51 pm | Permalink

    I could probably afford this if I stopped buying pornography for a month.

  5. Brian
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 11:22 pm | Permalink

    As a children’s lit. major at EMU I’ve been bugging the department for months to get his stuff on the shelves. One of the largest collections of children’s literature in the United States should be able to make room for alumni.

    Also, there is a Winsor McCay DVD that has 9 or 10 of his hand drawn cartoons on there. Netflix it.

  6. mark
    Posted September 26, 2006 at 11:26 pm | Permalink

    I know a librarian at EMU. I’ll send her a note and see what she says.

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