Showing posts with label Charles Barsotti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Barsotti. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2026

Another Signed Copy of They Moved My Bowl by Charles Barsotti

I think we can all agree that any book collecting New Yorker cartoonist Charles Barsotti's dog cartoons is a cause for celebration. The Moved My Bowl, published in 2007, fits the bill. A signed copy was recently offered on eBay, now the second to appear on this blog.



Barsotti boldly signed the book in blue marker on the front free endpaper. It is perhaps not the most perfect signature, the bottom of the last two letters having shifted upwards a bit.


Like the cover cartoon, a number of the drawings take place on psychotherapist's couches. 



Barsotti's line is simple, but his humor can be deeply moving, as with the cartoon set in heaven.



As the title page says, the foreword is by Barsotti's fellow New Yorker cartoonist George Booth, who brings a drawing of a cat along to the festivities. Reproduced after that is a 1990 letter from Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, a.k.a. Sparky, which may or may not have set this whole project in motion.




The signature bled through the page a bit.









In 2013, I posted a similar copy of this book after it sold on eBay for $15. This time the asking price was $25—but there was a best offer option.


Charles Barsotti
eBay listing ended January 2, 2026


Charles Barsotti
eBay item description



The eBay seller raised the price from $17.99 to $25.00, then accepted a best offer for $17.50.






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Sunday, November 3, 2024

A Souvenir Sketch of a Dog by Charles Barsotti

A souvenir sketch of a sitting dog by cartoonist Charles Barsotti has turned up in Belgium, of all places. Priced at $100.10, it is adorable and it doesn't need to be walked.


Charles Barsotti
AbeBooks listing accessed October 26, 2024
https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Charles-Barsotti-1933-2014-Rare-signed-sketch/32020837847/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook





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Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Three Drawings by William Steig

In 2017, three original ink drawings by William Steig were sold by the Clars Auction Gallery of Oakland. Each was framed with a title and date on the matte. The trio had a presale estimate of $600 to $900. No publication history was provided. The lot sold for $500.





William Steig
Clars Auction Gallery auction June 17, 2017

So what exactly do we have here? All three drawings, it turns out, are related to The New Yorker. The earliest, at least by publication date, is the Garden of Eden drawing, a mirror-image variant of a 1975 cartoon from the magazine. The published version has a more imposing serpent and a more vertical woman.


The title and date on the matte are evidently spurious.

Drawings by William Steig and George Booth


The drawing of the moonlit embrace on the veranda is a charming New Yorker original published in 1976.

Again, the date and title provided seem to be made out of whole cloth.
 
Drawings by Charles Barsotti and William Steig

The wedding drawing was published in the magazine in 1977.

Here the alleged date is a full quarter century off. The supposed title seems a bit too obvious while not really reflecting the contrasting emotions in the drawing. It seems then that at some point all three dates and titles were just made up, perhaps to make a few easy sales without the bother of research.
 
Drawings by William Steig and Al Ross




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Friday, March 4, 2022

Mick Stevens: All in the Past?

An original New Yorker cartoon by Mick Stevens first published almost thirty years ago shows, very likely, some fading but is in otherwise good condition. The gag itself hasn't aged badly at all. In fact, it is one of the few cartoons that actually appeared twice in the pages of the magazine, having been published in 1993 and subsequently reprised in The New Yorker's 1997 Cartoon Issue. The original art sold last weekend for only half its low estimate, although it's hard to know exactly what that says about the market when the auction house didn't even get the artist's name right.

"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Framed original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

Mick Stevens's signature




Mick Stevens
Sarasota Estate Auction, February 26, 2022








"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

Cartoon by Mick Stevens and advertisement by Macy's



This drawing is one of only a few to be published in the magazine twice, here in the Cartoon Issue of December 15, 1997:
"Encores"
Cartoons by Leo Cullum, Tom Cheney, Mick Stevens, Jon Agee, and Charles Barsotti






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Friday, November 12, 2021

Blog Post No. 3800: Good Provider Cartoons in The New Yorker

Kudos to those hardworking individuals who can ensure that their families are well-taken care of. Daniel H. Borinsky has done his homework on the subject, rounding up the appearances of such successful wage earners in New Yorker cartoons through the years. He notes specifically that over the course of three decades, from 1952 to 1982, The New Yorker published at least six cartoons where a woman referred to her spouse as a "good provider." How then did New Yorker cartoonists handle this lucrative subject?

"One thing I'll say for him—he's always been a good provider."
Charles Addams
The New Yorker, February 23, 1952, page 25

Unfortunately, cannibalistic African tribes were a common cartoon trope at least into the 1950s. Still, Charles Addams manages to give the notion of the good provider his own macabre twist.

"I'll say this for Harry. He's a good provider, he
doesn't run around, and he's never struck me except in self-defense."
George Price
The New Yorker, March 14, 1953, page 26


Fooled you! The caption on the George Price cartoon doesn't quite end up where you thought it was going, does it?

"I'll say this for him—he's a good provider."
Robert Day
The New Yorker, November 20, 1965, page 47


Robert Day provides a native variation on the theme.

"Ed's always been a good provider."
George Price
The New Yorker, September 15, 1980, page 45


George Price again. This time around it is not the caption, which is straightforward, but the drawing that totally subverts our expectations.

"Not the easiest man in the kingdom to live with,
needless to say, but a damned good provider."
Edward Frascino
The New Yorker, May 17, 1982, page 40


Edward Frascino adds a memorable royal personality to the theme as well as some opulence not present in the previous examples.

"I must say, Nelson, you've always been a good provider."
Barney Tobey
The New Yorker, June 25, 1984, page 30

Did somebody say opulence? Barney Tobey gives us a beautiful drawing showing us the sort of extravagant lifestyle that money can buy. The caption is thus relegated to an understatement.

So then, what's left for a cartoonist to do?
"I'll say this much for her—she's always been a good provider."
William Hamilton
The New Yorker, April 17, 1989, page 117


To conclude, Dan writes about William Hamilton's contribution to the series:


However, the seventh cartoon of this kind, in 1989, reversed the premise—this time it was the man who praised his wife as a “good provider."  The first six appearances of “good provider” were clichés about the then-general dependence of a wife on her husband’s earnings. But the reversal in 1989 was a reflection of the growing financial status of women in American society. 

 

Right you are, Dan. I would only add that our tennis-playing friend seems to be quite at ease with his role in this social upheaval.


Spot by Ludwig Bemelmans and cartoon by Charles Addams

Cartoons by George Price and Alan Dunn

Spot by Judith Shahn and cartoon by Robert Day

Spot by Henry Martin and cartoon by George Price

Cartoons by Edward Frascino and Charles Barsotti

Cartoons by Barney Tobey and Michael Crawford

Cartoon by William Hamilton


Note:  Many thanks to Daniel Borinsky for himself being a good provider of New Yorker cartoon research. This is Dan's second contribution to the blog. One hopes there will be many more.


The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200:  A Shaggy Dog Story




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