100 Favorite Illustrations from Collier's Magazine, 1898-1914

Book excerpt: Peter F. Collier (1849–1909) and Robert J. Collier (1876–1918) were the men behind publishing giant Peter F. Collier & Son, and their organization ranked among America's most prestigious firms. Collier's Weekly, which appeared in various forms from 1888 through 1957, was at the forefront of new publishing technologies, such as the use of halftone images, and was noted for its fiction and investigative journalism. Collier's publications regularly employed the best illustrators of the day, and the company frequently produced collections of favorite works from their popular periodicals. This volume presents the best color and black-and-white images from two rare portfolios, originally printed in 1908 and 1914. Featured artists include Charles Dana Gibson, whose contract with Collier's made his "Gibson Girl" a fixture in American culture, and Maxfield Parrish, who created many illustrations and covers for the magazine. Additional contributors include Howard Pyle, Jessie Willcox Smith, J. C. Leyendecker, Frederic Remington, and other noteworthy American artists of the early twentieth century.