Well-known illustrator Joseph Clement Coll was born in 1881, the son of an Irish bookbinder. Self-taught from the works of Vierge, Pyle, and Abbey, his talent was such that he was taken on as an apprentice newspaper artist on the New York American at the age of seventeen. He quickly learned the skills of a reporter and was sent to Chicago for additional training.

In 1901, he returned to New York where he worked on the newly formed Sunday North American. After seeing his works, the editor of the paper rewarded him with challenging assignments, to which he often contributed design and lettering.
The ability to reproduce pen drawings without engravings was a relatively modern advancement in this era. Until the 1880s, most ar...