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Sight Unseen: Rien n'est Simple by Jean-Jacques Sempé
Should one by a book containing a souvenir drawing one hasn't seen? For my Sight Unseen series, I locate some object, usually a signed book, that intrigues me but that lacks a photograph in the...
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Edward Gorey: A Signed Copy of The Dream World of Dion McGregor
"No one wrote this book"—it consists of "tape-recorded dreams of a man who talks in his sleep," after all—but it was definitely illustrated by a wide-awake Edward Gorey. A copy of The Dream World of...
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David's Copy of Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan
Blog contributor David from Manhattan has scanned his copy of Chris Ware'sJimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth for our benefit. He writes:The year (2000) the book came out his publisher set up a...
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Barbara's Copy of Last Laughs
Reader David from Manhattan has sent photographs of the collection Last Laughs: Cartoons About Aging, Retirement...and the Great Beyond signed by three New Yorker cartoonists. Marisa Acocella Marchetto...
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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #636
It's time to unwrap my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #636 for October 22, 2018. The drawing is by Tom Chitty after a famous (staged) photograph by Charles C. Ebbets publicizing the...
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My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for September/October 2018
Here are my entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for September/October 2018. Unlike The New Yorker's caption contest, multiple entries are permitted. Just like The New Yorker's contest, Jewish...
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Audrena's Copy of Addams and Evil
In 1958, Charles Addams drew one of his many standing figures of Wednesday Addams in an inscribed copy of his 1947 cartoon collection Addams and Evil (New York: Simon and Schuster). Here it's the...
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Nathaniel Benchley's Copy of Charles Addams' Nightcrawlers
When Charles Addams was to delight his friends with drawings in copies of his 1957 cartoon collection Nightcrawlers, he often used a blue ballpoint pen and created bold full-page images. A copy...
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Audrey and Matthew's Copy of Favorite Haunts by Charles Addams
Audrey and Matthew must have had something to celebrate in 1977—an anniversary, perhaps?— when Charles Addams made them this splendid drawing in a copy of his 1976 cartoon collection Favorite Haunts....
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Charles Addams: A Central Park Offering
Reader David from Manhattan has sent in photographs of original Charles Addams art. Details of the images and even of the mounting are included. The somewhat intemperate drawing was published in the...
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Arthur Rackham: Hey! Up the Chimney, Lass!
The original 1907 frontispiece illustration by Arthur Rackhamto the Rev. R. H. Barham'sThe Ingoldsby Legends shows a gaggle of witches flying up out of a chimney. Rackham uses an S-shaped composition...
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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #637
Line up for my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #637 for October 29, 2018. The drawing is by P. C. Vey."You call this a floor show?"Note: Last week cartoonist Tom Chitty took a break...
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Hallowed Haunts: The Drawings and Watercolors of Charles Addams
A single folded leaf served to promote and to catalogue the exhibition "Hallowed Haunts: The Drawings and Watercolors of Charles Addams." Addams's original works were exhibited in New York at the...
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Dan Kilgo: The High Cost of Halloween
The U.S. inflation rate hit a whopping 14.4% in 1947 as the postwar economic expansion got underway. That's why the Saturday Evening Post felt its readers that year would be able to relate to a certain...
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In Pursuit of Charles Addams
After American Frank Shorter won the men's marathon in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, jogging became suddenly popular in America. Cartoonist Charles Addams naturally had his own take on this...
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James Thurber: Off the Wall
Back around 1935, James Thurber created murals on the wall of Costello's Bar, a former speakeasy, as payment for an outstanding bar tab. Come January of 1940, Thurber—celebrated writer, playwright,...
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Frank Beaven: A Voter Decides
Before television, people kept up with the news through the press, radio, and newsreels shown in movie theaters. In the latter way, at the very least, getting the news was more of a communal...
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Barney Tobey: The Cynical Voter
The 1948 Presidential campaign saw incumbent Democrat Harry S. Truman take on Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey. Barney Tobey's 1948 campaign cartoon from Collier's depicts a more local city...
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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #638
Hover over my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #638 for November 5, 2018. The drawing is by Farley Katz."Now you can ditch those suspenders forever."Note: Last week cartoonist P. C. Vey...
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Gregory d'Alessio: Get Out and Vote!
Ike or Adlai? The voters will get to decide in this 1952 color cartoon page for Collier's by Gregory d'Alessio. Our polling place is a barber shop!Get Out and Vote!Gregory d'AlessioCollier's, November...
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