[A fascinating archive of political, caricatures, slapstick black humor, erotica, and sports cartoons, encompassing a variety of cartooning techniques, reflecting events, personalities, and attitudes of the Mid-20th Century.]

[Gloucester, MA: Al Hurdle, ca. 1960-1978]. Fifty-five original cartoon drawings on artist’s illustration board, 38 in full colour, the remainder in pen & ink, 54 sized 8 x 10 in., 1 sized 6 x 8 in., all signed in lower corners by Hurdle, many are dated, 2 have neatly written identifications on versos, an excellent archive. The archive begins with a splendid self-portrait caricature of the artist himself drawing a caricature of Jimmy Carter, surrounded by caricatures and cartoon characters, including Jimmy Stewart, L.B.J., Theodore Roosevelt, Arthur Godfrey, Art Carney, Mark Spitz, Fidel Castro and Bob Hope, with cartoon charaxters such as Mickey Mouse, Katzenjammer Kids, Jiggs, Pluto, Buster Brown & Tige, the Toonerville Trolley and others. Also included are undated caricatures of President Harry Truman with signature in lower right, Henry Kissinger, President Kennedy, along with satire of Barry Goldwater wanting to gain the presidency, and the scandal with former Pennsylvania Rep. Josua Eilberg (1921-2004). Sports figures such as Billy Martin, Heavyweight boxer Tommy Loughran, Duke Snider, Doak Walker, Jim Thorpe, and Bart Starr are honored and spoofed. Other New Yorker & Esquire gag style cartoons feature a goose-stepping Adolf Hitler, Bob Hope on the golf course, along with a myriad of humorous cartoons, a few with erotic themes. Others touch on tennis, fishing, water skiing, auto crashes, and a failed magic act with the “Great Waldo” actually sawing the woman in half. Two of the pen & ink drawings dated 1963 are of fishing and fishing cabin in Gloucester, MA, and the other Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia. We were unable to determine whether this “Al Hurdle” was a pen name, or discover any published example, or original inked panels such as these in any collection, or in auction records.