About Oliver Herford
Oliver Herford was an English-American writer, painter, and illustrator who was famous for his biting wit and twisted sense of humor. Oliver Herford was born on December 2, 1860 in Sheffield, England, to Rev Brooke Herford and his wife, Hannah Hankinson. His dad was a Unitarian minister who moved Oliver and his family to Chicago in the late 1800s and then to Boston in the early 1900s. Oliver went to school at Antioch College, which is located in Yellow Springs, OH, between 1877 and 1879. He then went to art school in London at Slade and at the Académie Julian in Paris. After that, Oliver moved to New York City and lived there until his death on July 5, 1935.Herford's funny cartoons and funny verses filled the pages of magazines like Life, Woman’s Home Companion and Ladies’ Home Journal, as well as other magazines like Century Magazine and Harper’s Weekly. He also wrote for magazines like The Masses and The Mentor and Punch. Herford wrote and illustrated over 30 books between the 1890s and 1930s, sometimes collaborating with others (like John Cecil Clay) and usually doing his own illustrations. He illustrated a lot of books by authors like Joel Chandler Harris and Carolyn Wells, as well as books by Edgar Lee Masters like Allegretto.
Herford died on July 5, 1935, and his wife died the following December.
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