Karen's Copy of Pip Squeak: Mouse in Shining Armor by Robert Kraus and Richard Oldden

Even more impressive than a copy of Pip Squeak: Mouse in Shining Armor (1971) personalized with a drawing by illustrator Richard Oldden—such as we saw here in yesterday's post—is a copy personalized with sketches by both Oldden and the book's author Robert Kraus. Oldden's drawing for reader Karen featured Pip Squeak with his sword raised as well as Hopper, the mouse's toad. Kraus, himself a prolific New Yorker cartoonist and magazine cover illustrator, provided the book's new owner with a somewhat generic drawing of a rabbit holding a flower.

This leads one to wonder how Kraus decided whether to illustrate his own stories or assign them to others? His obituary dated August 30, 2001, by Myrna Oliver of the Los Angeles Times, and cited by Wikipedia on its Robert Kraus page, sheds a little light here:

A decade later, the budding author decided to establish a children's book publishing house, dubbing it Windmill and installing himself as president. His idea was to ask artist friends to create the books—but he soon learned they were more interested in illustrating than writing.

So he wrote the stories, albeit painfully, recalling: "I love drawing . . . Giving my stories to somebody else was like giving away a child."

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Robert Kraus and Richard Oldden
Biblio listing accessed October 25, 2024

https://www.biblio.com/book/pip-squeak-mouse-shining-armor-robert/d/1624075172

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George and Fran's Copy of Pip Squeak: Mouse in Shining Armor by Robert Kraus and Richard Oldden

Pip Squeak:  Mouse in Shining Armor is a 1971 children's book by New Yorker cartoonist and author Robert Kraus published by his Windmill Books imprint.  The illustrator is fellow cartoonist Richard Oldden, here making his debut in children's literature. E. M. Maurice Books of Torrington, CT,  offers a copy personalized by the artist "To George and Fran from Pip Squeak and Dick Oldden" with an original drawing of the heroic mouse.

Robert Kraus and Richard Oldden
E. M. Maurice Books listing accessed October 21, 2024

https://e-m-maurice-books-llc.square.site/product/pip-squeak-mouse-in-shining-armor-inscribed-with-drawing/2749?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=true

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Richard Oldden: Venus on the Half-Shell

For the past month, an eBay seller tried to sell a work of original Playboy cartoon art by Richard Oldden that was published in the issue of March 1991. The drawing, of course, is a modern twist on Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

Richard Oldden

Original art

Playboy, March 1991, p. 154

Richard Oldden

Original art

Playboy, March 1991, p. 154

Playboy stamps

Richard Oldden's signature

Detail of Venus

At a 1993 auction, Oldden assigned this original Playboy cartoon a "Retail Value" of $500. The eBay seller started the bidding at $300, and did not disclose the actual 1993 sale price.

"Retail Value $500"

Tear sheet

Richard Oldden

eBay listing ended May 21, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166097113841?hash=item26ac28d2f1%3Ag%3ARwsAAOSw7PtkDLcX&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4IFo0UixkWJSAU4aDHxYFsXQNh6DJmhMeyar1qGkKbpoXF+69LW9ip%2BLo%2BnWZyrb%2FZ%2FAsqB%2BzZ5IhIVhEnzx2rq1Y4OCH%2FLc%2Bdqr4OcI5G%2FloKaJtgP22nGv8zN8Y66HkDpj4Fjs%2FgOWBnR%2F6lFTCFBlktZ

IAo29FQYo8H8Wro9%2Faks2z7HZBibUKMM2uSULsh%2FL8t7nJv21sxGBiBSOSnie938aK6YIbzCXEMJeXAiw0sRggh2j6ppU4ZhVtY7bgmciw9PSqfvvEejaUuQ1rCSuTEpOC1Q1ZqIBrlDI%2F8n%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Tr8NyKYg&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Richard Oldden

eBay item description

At $300, history repeated itself, although a best offer option was added to the most recent listing:

Image added June 24, 2023

Richard Oldden

Original art

Playboy, March 1991, p. 154

Sandro Botticelli

The Birth of Venus (c. 1484–1486)

Tempera on canvas

172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in)

Uffizi, Florence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus#/media/File:Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg

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Richard Oldden: Surf's Up!

An original cartoon by Richard Oldden was published, we are told, in True magazine sometime in 1970. Possibly the date is on the back of the artwork, possibly not. The drawing was sold on eBay earlier this month by  Anthony's Comic Book Art of Moonachie, New Jersey. The eBay sale occurred at the same time as another seller was offering larger groups of Oldden art, but it had first been listed in 2021.

Richard Oldden
eBay listing ended May 6, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233330560928?hash=item365395cfa0%3Ag%3AvWcAAOSw8HddYG5Y&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwEVYbfIDYjPYEPTT6IWqtVe0Rirplw2p2unQwZFcU%2BX9M4nh2FEnxwnfwoZ79FKyiI0DB4xU2tVnx9ZoZv4ZTOIMkD3u4FwnYOvZjV2TrwopvWsLpm7QaDafaO9YkYvZfOQj%2BmiusGDGyzTbliY

qYxOJ7dxcQlzy6s916bK1scZUDDxiATxvtgw3zb1JAtpolOqJGaSZGDpCF1vZ62t8Jfg4f8C%2BhdYNHiDk18AKHcfBXNDJt7P0yFp3dyBy0%2BikA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4aNt7eJYg&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Richard Oldden
eBay item description

Note:  For most people, knowing that a cartoon by Dick Oldden was published in True in the year 1970 is more than sufficient. Me, I'm a details guy. I like to know the exact issue and page number as well. Help me if you can, and I don't mean with psychotherapy.

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Richard Oldden: Call Me George

The final quartet of original drawings by Richard Oldden were sold on eBay earlier this month. The artist visits several well-traveled cartoon tropes and puts a new twist on each of them. One of the gags is wordless and in four panels on two sheets of paper. We aren't told where any of the cartoons were published.

          "My name is Kenzaburo Toramichi . . .           "At first we thought we would be swamped with tourists,

                 You may call me George."                           —but somehow it never caught on."

"What's this you've been telling my daughter?"                        Hunting the Lion                  

Versos with Dick Oldden's New York and Laguna Beach stamps

Richard Oldden
eBay listing ended May 6, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/374666219984?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

Richard Oldden
eBay item description

Richard Oldden
eBay bid history
Three bidders make seven bids over seven days. It's the last one that counts.

Note:  It's likely that many or all of the Dick Oldden cartoons in these eBay groupings of four were published somewhere in a mainstream magazine. But where? And when? It's questions like this that cry out for answers. Help if you can.

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Richard Oldden: Artist and Dinosaur

Two of the original cartoons by Richard Oldden recently offered for sale on eBay had been published in The New Yorker. They were both included in one lot and generated greater bidder interest than the other groupings of four cartoons from unknown publications. These drawings were published in 1969 and 1971. They depict moments of inspiration as experienced by dinosaur and artist. Neither has a caption but one has an unlikely thought bubble.

Versos with stamps and markings from the artist and from The New Yorker

Richard Oldden
eBay listing ended May 6, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/374666199022?hash=item573bd87fee%3Ag%3AkpIAAOSw1XBkTawb&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwD5yWiArlcVN3dhbYucesmqZWQ3Jha95BUI2QBicXZkYn7huY0RPnTIgI5LVdEs93ohVHbjut577qfPkO%2BN8t1aHXfW1gNSg%2B%2FNd4E5gcrikdL8ULmrTAwS8mZmEE9JHbpEKxgYcdcTledKkAtJqBIH

NJhykHNMyMpFZ5fKZEMpbKoajY3A9eHXZrro%2FvCrK6w3G36NK%2FuIlogwDkbMHCSUp2Kt1KpO5W1%2Bt%2Fivb%2FFrPwe74Hb1T22q0a9nGiH9jtg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-KjnKeEYg&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Richard Oldden
eBay item description

Richard Oldden
eBay bid history
Six bidders place a total of ten bids and, as we so often see, the last bid wins.

Richard Oldden
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 203

Richard Oldden
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 203

A spot drawing by Chon Day and a cartoon by Richard Oldden

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-08/flipbook/202/

Richard Oldden
The New Yorker, March 20, 1971, p. 44

Richard Oldden
Original art
The New Yorker, March 20, 1971, p. 44

Cartoons by Richard Oldden and Robert Day

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1971-03-20/flipbook/044/

Note:  Over the past six days I've posted twenty-two cartoon originals by Dick Oldden. Most likely all of them were submitted to The New Yorker but only the two in today's post were published there. So how did the magazine do? Did they select the funniest cartoons? The cleverest? Your opinions welcome.

Addendum:  Chon Day's reader wears a bow tie!

Reader spot
Chon Day
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 203

Robert Day's cartoon isn't quite so funny if what it shows ever happens to you.

"Hey! Isn't that ours?"

Robert Day

The New Yorker, March 20, 1971, p. 45

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