Book 653
The Complete Little Nemo
Windsor McCay / Essay book by Alexander Braun
Taschen 2014
A two-volume set that comes with its own carrying case, Taschen’s Complete Little Nemo, measuring approximately 17.5” x 14” and weighing close to 18 lbs., is a dream. Now, I could go on about McKay’s exquisite and delicate line work or the surreal beauty of Slumberland or the unfortunate vein of racism that runs through it, but I think that’s probably best left to others. Now, I have another Little Nemo collection, and it’s a pretty good one and I’m going to keep it, too. But in a side-by-side comparison, there’s no contest. The line work of this volume is clearer, the colors deeper, the quality more even, and there is just no substitute for seeing Nemo at full newspaper size, the way it was intended. Because at the size of the smaller McCay (10” x 13”), the lettering is difficult to read.
It’s the care and attention to detail that makes this book so impressive. I mean, look at the box it comes in! I know more-than-a-little about book production, so I know how difficult this was to produce. Even at its full list price of $200, it still seems like a bargain.
In the companion volume to this book, there’s an interesting fact I hadn’t known. It reads, “There is no one institution, library, or collection in the world that possesses all episodes of Little Nemo in Slumberland or the newspapers in which McCay's comics appeared in their entirety.” Given that, the Taschen Complete Little Nemo is, indeed, a dream made real.
