Burgess, Gelett, 1866-1951

American author and humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) was educated as an engineer and worked briefly for a railroad. He taught topographical drawing between 1891 and 1894 at the University of California, Berkeley until he lost his position after deliberately toppling a campus statue he found to be an eyesore. Burgess founded the Lark, a humour magazine based in San Francisco, published from 1895 to 1897. Burgess created nonsense rhymes and cartoons such as "The Purple Cow: Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who's Quite Remarkable, at Least" (1895) and "Goops" books, humorous instructional books featuring misbehaving creatures with poor manners, whose antics were published in book form between 1900 and 1950 and syndicated in cartoon form in 1925.

From the guide to the Gelett Burgess Letter (MS 179), 1943, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)

...