Cigar Box Lithographs - Humber, Charles J.

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Résumé :
Just as this publication was ready for the printer, a very rare cigar box was listed on an internet auction site. Recognizing its rarity and extraordinary appeal, a decision was made to bid on it with the hopes of purchasing it. As author, I won. But I also knew that it was too late to include this Davy Crockett cigar box alongside the more than 100 other cigar boxes already headlined and profiled in this particular 200-page volume. After winning the bid a final decision was made to illustrate this cigar box on the back cover of this production. In so doing readers have a chance to scrutinize a very rare and a one-of-a-kind cigar box. Of course, any cigar box that lithographically headlines Davy Crockett usually identifies the famous American frontiersman with the Alamo (see this Volume, page 114) and how he and 200 Texans were killed in 1836 by Santa Anna's 1500 strong Mexican forces. A wide-spread interest in Davy Crockett ever since has become the norm. Tennessee Ernie Ford popularized him in 1955 with his hit The Battle of Davy Crockett. John Wayne immortalized Davy Crockett when he played the famous frontiersman in the 1960 Hollywood blockbuster, The Alamo. The stunning lithographic print on the inside lid of a wooden cigar box made by William Simpson of Massachusetts, circa 1900, now highlights this back cover of this book and demonstrates the ultimate bravery of a young Davy Crockett protecting individuals inundated with a blizzard and petrified of wolves trying to push their way into the pioneer Log Cabin (see this Volume, pages 108- 109) that the legendary frontiersman is valiantly guarding and resolutely defending. This Davy Crocket lithographic print is one of the highlight prints of the book....

Biographie:
Charles J. Humber, born, Montreal, Quebec, 1936. He graduated, B.A., 1962, from Temple University , Philadelphia. As an undergraduate, he also attended the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1960-61. He pursued graduate work at the University of Toronto, studying under the legendary H. Northrop Frye before attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, graduating with his M.A.,1970. After twenty years as a high school teacher, Charlie ventured into the world of publishing. His first book, Loyal She Remains, sold 50,000 copies in 1984 and was chosen by the Ontario government as the official gift to both Her Majesty The Queen and His Holiness Pope John Paul II when both these dignitaries visited Ontario, the trillium province, in 1984. Charles J. Humber has edited or written sixteen books including the seven --volume CANADA Heirloom Series (1986-2000).Charles and Gayle Jenkins, his California-born wife, were married just shy of sixty years when Gay passed away in March, 2020. They became the proud parents of Kristan Laura, Karyn Anna, and twins Charles William and Scott Nicholas. In due course they became the grandparents of eight grandchildren. Charles and Gayle made Mississauga, a sub-name linked to the Ojibwa (see this volume pages 118-120), Ontario, their home base since 1962....