Title: Cyrus McCormick Inventing the Mouse Trap.
Artist: Burges Green (1912-1981)
Lithograph, undated.
Edition not noted.
Signed and titled in pencil. Inscribed "For Will Barnet."
Image size 9 x 4 7/8" (22.9 x 12.4 cm).

Burges Green was an American illustrator and cartoonist, best known for his satirical imagery. Syracuse University has a large collection of his drawings published as editorial cartoons in the Providence Journal, where he worked for around twenty years. He also illustrated the 1955 publication of "American Literature in Parody: A Collection of Parody, Satire and Literary Burlesque of American Writers Past and Present" by Robert P. Falk. Green was the nephew of U.S. Senator Theodore Green of Rhode Island.

Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) was a blacksmith and inventor from the U.S. state of Virginia. His most famous invention, the mechanical reaper, helped revolutionize the agricultural industry in the United States.

In this lithograph McCormick inventing a "mousetrap" is likely based on an old saying, not the actual invention. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a philosopher and lecturer, is attributed to the famous saying, "build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door." In short, if you could build a better machine or produce better goods than anyone else, people will find you, no matter where you are, to buy your products. McCormick was in a race with several other inventors at the time, including John H. Manny, whom McCormick sued for copyright infringement and lost, to build the better "mousetrap" reaper.

Condition: Very good condition. No tears or stains.