Field guy, illustrated gag, an one extremely overworked square of cloth.

Lee Thomson’s Cowboy Bandanas follows the bandana through the practical and theatrical life of the American West. It covers the expected functions — dust mask, neckerchief, sweat rag, emergency dressing — before happily wandering into the dubious ingenuity of cowboy lore, where apparently any problem can be solved provided you have a horse, some nerve and a sufficiently versatile piece of cotton.

Jim Lewis’s red-and-white illustrations give the book soooooo much character, borrowing from instructional diagrams, cattle-brand graphics and dime-store Western iconography. Such an affectionate taxonomy about the ways ordinary objects accumulate myth. The physical design leans fully into the joke, right down to the bandana incorporated into the cover. 

Gibbs Smith / Peregrine Smith Books, Layton, Utah, 1993. First edition. Illustrated paperback with bandana incorporated into the cover design; illustrated by Jim Lewis. Light rubbing, creasing and edge wear; handwritten inscription/signature to title page.