Presentation to focus on work of an early graphic novelist

Presentation to focus on work of an early graphic novelist

Credit: Wilson Hutton Presenter Steven Herb, head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library and Penn State and director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

At 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 10, Steven Herb, head of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Library and Penn State and director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, will give a gallery talk on the influence of Lynd Ward’s work on the development of graphic novels and on the mid-20th century revolution in children’s literature in the United States. The talk will be in the Mann Assembly Room, room 103 Paterno Library, on Penn State's University Park campus.

Ward, a printmaker and illustrator, created graphic novels, original illustrations for both "The Silver Pony" and "The Biggest Bear," as well as the original woodblocks for his 1934 illustrations for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus," which was reproduced in 2006 in a deluxe, limited edition.

Ongoing extensive gifts to Penn State's rare books and manuscripts collection from Robin Ward Savage, daughter of the late Lynd Ward, and other family members are making this collection one of the most important centers for the study of his work.

The talk is free and open to the public. An exhibit of Lynd Ward's work, "Storyteller without Words," is on display through May 7, in the Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information call 814-865-1793.