Little Nemo in the Palace of Ice

by Winsor McCay. Published by Dover Publications

Hardcover, 32 pages, Colour, 2017 (originally published 1907)

These strange and marvelously drawn cartoons recount the continuing adventures of Little Nemo, a small boy transported nightly to such fantastic worlds as the Palace of Ice, a pirate ship on the high seas, and a miniature city, where time and again his adventures get him into deep trouble and nothing can possibly save him — except waking up.

Created by Winsor McCay, a pioneer of cartooning and animation, Little Nemo and his companions provided Sunday entertainment for readers of The New York Herald for nearly a decade. The cartoons feature an incredible succession of fantasies in circus colors, rendered with a freewheeling mastery of perspective drawing. Little Nemo's escapades swirl in classic dream imagery such as falls, flights, and forests swarming with wild beasts. This lavish volume recaptures the vintage cartoon's incredibly baroque details and captivating weirdness with 31 full-color pages reproduced from the original 1907 editions.