Roald Dahl's The BFG—it stands for Big Friendly Giant—was published in 1982 with illustrations by Quentin Blake. For a charity auction in 2014 entitled First Editions: Redrawn, Blake has added five pages of original drawings to a first edition of the book. That copy of the book is available on the market again from Lucius Books in London.
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| Quentin Blake AbeBooks listing accessed February 21, 2026 |
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| Quentin Blake AbeBooks item description |
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| Currency conversion as of February 21, 2026 |
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Three examples of original cartoon art by Al Ross came up for auction at Heritage on February 18. The cartoon settings are a full lunch counter, a full library, and a full hammock.
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| Al Ross Heritage Auctions listing accessed February 16, 2028, one or two days before the sale |
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| Al Ross Heritage Auctions result of February 18, 2026 |
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| Al Ross Heritage Auctions item description |
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| "Right here, Eddie, they won't dare have any dessert!" Al Ross 1000 Jokes, May 1954 [?] |
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| Al Ross The New Yorker, June 27, 1988, p. 70 |
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| Al Ross Original art The New Yorker, June 27, 1988, p. 70 |
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| With a cartoon by Al Ross |
Finally, the library drawing was published, I am told, in Books, Books, Books: A Hilarious Collection of Literary Cartoons. The 1988 collection was edited by Sam Gross and Jim Charlton.
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| "You know who's beginning to annoy me? Homer!" Al Ross Original book art Books, Books, Books: A Hilarious Collection of Literary Cartoons, edited by S. Gross and Jim Charlton, Harper & Row, 1988 |
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A Charles Saxon drawing known as Deck Chairs looks for all the world like a cartoon missing its caption. The setting is the shaded deck of a cruise ship. Passengers are wearing coats and some are reclining on deck chairs under heavy blankets. The woman second from the left is speaking to another woman next to her, turning away from a man who is, possibly, her husband. An attentive member of the crew is standing in the background.
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| Deck Chairs Charles Saxon |
The framed drawing was exhibited at a show called Artists of The New Yorker in February of 2000 at Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., but that does not necessarily mean the drawing ever appeared in the magazine, only that the artist did. It was number 48 on the art gallery checklist (not here provided) but no caption is noted on the frame backing, only the title. It was later sold at Doyle New York on May 12, 2020, part of the collection of Patricia and Donald Oresman, for $343, and on eBay on October 25, 2021, not all that long after, for $240.
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| Charles Saxon's signature |
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| Charles Saxon eBay listing ended October 25, 2021 |
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| Charles Saxon eBay item description |
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| Charles Saxon Doyle New York Paintings & Drawings Online, May 12, 2020 |
Now Saxon had a five-page cartoon spread—just imagine such a thing today—called "Caribbean Cruise" in the New Yorker issue of January 23, 1960, but this drawing seems to be somewhat later. It is less inky than the 1960 drawings and relies more on Conté crayon for its atmospheric effect.
After almost five years of pondering this image and hoping to miraculously come across it in print with a humorous if understated caption, I've decided to let my readers have a go at it. Where then might this Charles Saxon drawing have been published and with what printed caption? There is no prize for a correct answer, but you are always free to treat yourself to a little celebratory cruise.
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In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #979 from the issue of February 16 & 23, 2026, a family goes on an outing in a car that is lifted by balloons. The woman who is in the front passenger seat speaks. The drawing is by Farley Katz.
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These captions wouldn't float:
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| "That settles it. No more party stores." "All the gas stations have the wrong kind of air." "So we can't move without wind?" "Great, but we still have no place to park." "The kids want to try some of the helium." "I told you the balloons were for the kids." "Why should we play The 5th Dimension?" "Finally, we can't hear the neighbors." |
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Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for the Winter 2026 issue anticipates spring. One elderly, Orthodox man's shtreimel has a bird's nest up top and a younger man wearing a similar hat comments. According to the good folks at Wikipedia, a shtreimel "is a fur hat worn by some Ashkenazi Jewish men, mainly members of Hasidic Judaism, on Shabbat and Jewish holidays and other festive occasions." The drawing is by cartoonist Benjamin Schwartz, a keen observer of people, hats, and nature. My captions appear below.
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| "Shmuel, your shtreimel shows it to be shpring." "Humane, yes, but it doesn't count as a mitzvah." "Where can I get some feygl for MY shtreimel, Feivel?" "We never use the hat check but if we do we leave a tip." |
A mitzvah is a commandment, but commonly it's used to mean a good deed. Feygl, in Yiddish, are birds. No Orthodox man would ever check his hat. What was I thinking?
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Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller of London offers a rare copy of the 1907 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. It is copy no. 496 of the limited edition of 1130, signed by Rackham who added a small drawing of the Mad Hatter in profile.
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| Arthur Rackham AbeBooks listing accessed February 20, 2026 |
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| https://wise.com/us/currency-converter/usd-to-gbp-rate |
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Bookseller Pascal Coudert of Paris offers a copy of L'artiste (F.I.D.H., 1991) with text by Raymond Devos and illustrations by Jean-Michel Folon. Folon has added a very simple original drawing of an artist's hand in multicolored pencil. What a beautiful copy of the book!
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| Jean-Michel Folon AbeBooks listing accessed February 19, 2026 |
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| Jean-Michel Folon AbeBooks item description |
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