Penned by Henry Louis Stevens in 1886, The Comic Natural History of the Human Race was the first American book of caricatures and the first American book to be printed using chromolithography. The caricatures are, in a way, crude – Stephens simply the heads of prominent 19th century Philadelphians atop the bodies of various creatures – but the jarring juxtopositions and irreverent, mock-scientific tone are a delight.
Below are a few chapters from the original, transcribed and retouched from the scans at the Internet Archive.
