Gustave Verbeek, Little Lady Lovekins, and Old Man Muffaroo

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.

List of Collections

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.

List of Episodes

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
1903Oct04 "Lady Lovekins crosses a puddle to get a doll ..."           *
1903Oct11 "Muffaroo warns Lovekins not to go near the water...."  * **     *
1903Oct18 "They try to catch a big fat bird...."  *  *     *
1903Nov01 "One day, they are walking along, when all at once ..."  * **     *
1903Nov08 "They see a hairy object coming up from a pool...."           *
1903Nov15 The Romantic Adventure of the Barrel           *
1903Nov29 The Tramp and the Unwelcome Water       *   *
1903Dec06 They Get Into a Hole and Out of It           *
1903Dec13 The Christmas Dolly and Santa Claus    **     *
1903Dec20 The Little Lady as an Alpine Climber  * **     *
1903Dec27 A Jolly Day after Small Game  *  *     *
1904Jan03 They Find That There is Not Always Plenty of Room at the Top of a Ladder  * **     *
1904Jan10 An Ostrich Hunt       *   *
1904Jan17 An Experiment with Snow-Shoes    ** *   *
1904Jan24 The Adventure of the Dangerous Bird  *  *     *
1904Jan31 A Visit to Fairyland           *
1904Feb07 An Interrupted Fish Story           *
1904Feb14 The Little Lady Delivers a Bewitched Princess       *   *
1904Feb21 Showing the Difficulties of Getting a Supper Sometimes    ** *   *
1904Feb28 The Little Lady Has an Unwelcome Suitor    **     *
1904Mar06 The Adventure of the Juggler           *
1904Mar13 The Wonderful Cure of the Waterfall *         *
1904Mar20 At the House of the Writing Pig *      *  *
1904Mar27 The Bad Snake and the Good Wizard       *   *
1904Apr03 An Eventful Easter *         *
1904Apr10 A Picnic That was a Picnic *         *
1904Apr17 Another Narrow Escape from the Dangerous Bird *         *
1904Apr24 And the Cat Came Back *         *
1904May01 The Little Lady Shoots the Chutes          **
1904May08 The Thrilling Adventure of the Dragon **  *    **
1904May15 An Old Story With a New Ending *         *
1904May22 The Magic Broom *        **
1904May29 A Fruit Stealing Expedition *         *
1904Jun05 The Fairy Palace ** **    **
1904Jun12 An Impromptu Clam Bake *        **
1904Jun19 The Goose that Laid a Golden Egg *      *  *
1904Jun26 Exciting Times at the Sea-Shore **  *     *
1904Jul03 The Mermaid and the Floating Mine **  *  *  *
1904Jul10 The Bad Boy and the Stone *      *  *
1904Jul17 The Magic Carpet *         *
1904Jul24 The Bird, the Berries, and the Basket *         *
1904Jul31 A Fish Story ** **     *
1904Aug07 The Negro and the Watermelon *         *
1904Aug14 The Story of the Stork *         *
1904Aug21 The Danger of Having an Idea *         *
1904Aug28 No Rest for the Wicked          **
1904Sep04 A Good Lesson for the Rash Little Lady *         *
1904Sep18 The Bags of Gold           *
1904Sep25 A Story of Narrow Escapes           *
1904Oct02 A Night of Terror  *  * *   *
1904Oct09 The Little Lady is Naughty Again    **     *
1904Oct16 The Bogey Man  *  * *   *
1904Oct23 An Object Lesson for the Little Lady  *  * *   *
1904Oct30 Dragon Story           *
1904Nov06 The Three Tasks *         *
1904Nov13 The Clam, the Apples and the Snake           *
1904Nov20 The Thanksgiving Pies       *   *
1904Nov27 A Pretty Kettle of Fish       *   *
1904Dec04 The Boy and the Bean-Stalk  * ** *   *
1904Dec11 The Genie and the Box    ** *   *
1904Dec18 A Christmas Surprise  * ** *   *
1904Dec25 Fun in the Snow  *  * *   *
1905Jan01 A New Year's Tale  *  * *   *
1905Jan08 The Goat and the Goblin    **     *
1905Jan15 The Horrors of War  *  * *   *


Books
Brian Raiter