Gustave Verbeek [born Gustave Verbeck] (1867-1937), drew a Sunday comic strip named "The Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo" for The New York Herald. All in all 65 strips were created, running from October 4, 1903 to January 15, 1905. This unusual strip was a half-page in size, giving him six panels, but Verbeek created twelve panels of story, by the remarkable expedient of requiring the reader to turn the page upside down halfway through. The six panels, turned upside-down, would then illustrate the second half of the narrative.
Note: This web page was originally compiled back when no complete collection existed, and in fact many episodes were simply unavailable, except in newspaper archives. As of 2009, this is no longer the case, as Sunday Press Books provides a beautiful and fully comprehensive anthology (see below). I have left this page up simply for the sake of posterity.
The following list is all the published collections of Verbeek's unusual comic strip, to the best of my knowledge. I welcome corrections and additions to the information on this page. Items marked with a <*> are ones that I have in my personal collection. Information about the books that I do not have in my personal collection typically comes from obscure sources, and may not be accurate. Please contact me if you can verify or correct any information about these books in particular.
The following list is of publications in which noteworthy individual strips appear, outside of what is already covered in the above list.
The following is a list of all the individual episodes, and in which publications they can be found. (Many thanks to Harold Jacobs, who tracked down many of the dates and names in this list.)
D = G.W. Dillingham book
R = Rajah Press book
L = Linus magazine
F = Real Free Press book / Nostalgia Press book
N = Nemo magazine
T = Tobar booklet
A = "Art Out of Time" book
S = Sunday Press book
Date | Title of Episode | D | R | L | F | N | T | A | S | ||||
1903 | Oct | 04 | "Lady Lovekins crosses a puddle to get a doll ..." | * | |||||||||
1903 | Oct | 11 | "Muffaroo warns Lovekins not to go near the water...." | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1903 | Oct | 18 | "They try to catch a big fat bird...." | * | * | * | |||||||
1903 | Nov | 01 | "One day, they are walking along, when all at once ..." | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1903 | Nov | 08 | "They see a hairy object coming up from a pool...." | * | |||||||||
1903 | Nov | 15 | The Romantic Adventure of the Barrel | * | |||||||||
1903 | Nov | 29 | The Tramp and the Unwelcome Water | * | * | ||||||||
1903 | Dec | 06 | They Get Into a Hole and Out of It | * | |||||||||
1903 | Dec | 13 | The Christmas Dolly and Santa Claus | * | * | * | |||||||
1903 | Dec | 20 | The Little Lady as an Alpine Climber | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1903 | Dec | 27 | A Jolly Day after Small Game | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Jan | 03 | They Find That There is Not Always Plenty of Room at the Top of a Ladder | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Jan | 10 | An Ostrich Hunt | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Jan | 17 | An Experiment with Snow-Shoes | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Jan | 24 | The Adventure of the Dangerous Bird | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Jan | 31 | A Visit to Fairyland | * | |||||||||
1904 | Feb | 07 | An Interrupted Fish Story | * | |||||||||
1904 | Feb | 14 | The Little Lady Delivers a Bewitched Princess | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Feb | 21 | Showing the Difficulties of Getting a Supper Sometimes | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Feb | 28 | The Little Lady Has an Unwelcome Suitor | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Mar | 06 | The Adventure of the Juggler | * | |||||||||
1904 | Mar | 13 | The Wonderful Cure of the Waterfall | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Mar | 20 | At the House of the Writing Pig | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Mar | 27 | The Bad Snake and the Good Wizard | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Apr | 03 | An Eventful Easter | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Apr | 10 | A Picnic That was a Picnic | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Apr | 17 | Another Narrow Escape from the Dangerous Bird | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Apr | 24 | And the Cat Came Back | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | May | 01 | The Little Lady Shoots the Chutes | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | May | 08 | The Thrilling Adventure of the Dragon | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
1904 | May | 15 | An Old Story With a New Ending | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | May | 22 | The Magic Broom | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | May | 29 | A Fruit Stealing Expedition | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Jun | 05 | The Fairy Palace | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
1904 | Jun | 12 | An Impromptu Clam Bake | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Jun | 19 | The Goose that Laid a Golden Egg | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Jun | 26 | Exciting Times at the Sea-Shore | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Jul | 03 | The Mermaid and the Floating Mine | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
1904 | Jul | 10 | The Bad Boy and the Stone | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Jul | 17 | The Magic Carpet | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Jul | 24 | The Bird, the Berries, and the Basket | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Jul | 31 | A Fish Story | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
1904 | Aug | 07 | The Negro and the Watermelon | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Aug | 14 | The Story of the Stork | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Aug | 21 | The Danger of Having an Idea | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Aug | 28 | No Rest for the Wicked | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Sep | 04 | A Good Lesson for the Rash Little Lady | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Sep | 18 | The Bags of Gold | * | |||||||||
1904 | Sep | 25 | A Story of Narrow Escapes | * | |||||||||
1904 | Oct | 02 | A Night of Terror | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Oct | 09 | The Little Lady is Naughty Again | * | * | * | |||||||
1904 | Oct | 16 | The Bogey Man | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Oct | 23 | An Object Lesson for the Little Lady | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Oct | 30 | Dragon Story | * | |||||||||
1904 | Nov | 06 | The Three Tasks | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Nov | 13 | The Clam, the Apples and the Snake | * | |||||||||
1904 | Nov | 20 | The Thanksgiving Pies | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Nov | 27 | A Pretty Kettle of Fish | * | * | ||||||||
1904 | Dec | 04 | The Boy and the Bean-Stalk | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
1904 | Dec | 11 | The Genie and the Box | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1904 | Dec | 18 | A Christmas Surprise | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
1904 | Dec | 25 | Fun in the Snow | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1905 | Jan | 01 | A New Year's Tale | * | * | * | * | ||||||
1905 | Jan | 08 | The Goat and the Goblin | * | * | * | |||||||
1905 | Jan | 15 | The Horrors of War | * | * | * | * |