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| William Steig AbeBooks listing accessed June 29, 2026 |
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| William Steig AbeBooks item description |
Note: William Steig's woodcarvings are new to me. In 1939, Time magazine wrote about an exhibition of these pieces here. His Proud Woman from 1941 is in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum here. An example appears on Artsy here. There is another on Reddit here. Now, does anyone have a photograph of the one Nelson Rockefeller kept on his desk?
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In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #996 from the issue of June 29, 2026, two upright frankfurters standing on two legs watch a third upright frankfurter walking a small frank on all fours secured by a leash. All the hot dogs have buns. The one standing on the right is speaking. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Lonnie Millsap.
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| "Don't you just want to pinch those little buns?" |
These captions weren't ready for the grill:
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| "We raised ours free-range." "We never used a dog walker." |
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| George Booth Original art The New Yorker, February 16, 1976 |
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| George Booth The New Yorker, February 16, 1976 |
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| "How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?" George Booth Original art The New Yorker, August 13, 1973, p. 78 |
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| "Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!" George Booth Original art The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, p. 37 Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980 |
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| "Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!" George Booth The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, p. 37 Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980 |
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| With a spot by Jeanine[?] and a drawing by George Booth |
Note: It turns out the stuffed peppers drawing was the subject of a blog post here four years ago for George Booth's ninety-sixth birthday.
In case you were wondering, there's a lot more Booth on the blog here.
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In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 207, two fish are sitting in a bar. The bartender takes a phone call and looks at them. The fish nearer the bartender speaks. The cartoonist is Tim Hamilton.
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| The prize pool on June 22 at the 10:00 PM hour |
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| "Can't you see I'm a fish out of lager?" "Say we had to go back to the Hudson." "Just tell them some fish story." * * * "Hey, bartender, do you serve fish here?" "We're not taking calls from fishmongers." |
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Fifteen years ago today, I launched an endeavor called Attempted Bloggery. All aboard!
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| "My God! Somebody's launched us." "Peter Arno's Side-Show," College Humor, Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1936, p. 11 |
Back on June 14, in anticipation of this milestone. I sought out ChatGPT for an Artificial Intelligence perspective on these nearly 5,300 posts. I tried to keep the prompt neutral in tone: "In about 100 words, comment on the blog Attempted Bloggery over the past fifteen years." Here's what I got in return:
In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #995 from the issue of June 22, 2026, a tortoise whose shell is decked out as a soccer ball also bears a satellite dish. He talks excitedly with another tortoise wearing no special sporting garb. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Felipe Galindo (Feggo).
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| "The World Cup has taught me that I'm still just a Knicks fan." |
These captions were at risk for a yellow card:
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| "I've got incredible reception! Now I'm all set for the match with the hares." "Guess what sport I'll be watching." |
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The limited edition of Negro Drawings (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927) by Miguel Covarrubias consists of one hundred copies that were specially bound, numbered, and signed, with an original drawing laid in. Copy no. 5 was listed on AbeBooks on April 17. It has subsequently been sold, probably last month, by Capitol Hill Books of Washington, DC, for $3,500.
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| Miguel Covarrubias Capitol Hill Books listing ended between April 17 and May 24, 2026 |
Note: There are ninety-nine other drawings by Miguel Covarrubias in the limited edition of Negro Drawings and I'd be happy to post any that collectors would care to share.
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In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #994 from the issue of June 15, 2026, a harried man has just checked out from a grocery store, loaded down with an impossible amount of produce from his knees up to the ceiling. The cashier holds out his register receipt and speaks. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Colin Tom.
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| "Was that your gray Prius they just towed?" |
These captions didn't check out:
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| "Would you like to check my work?" "Were those your car keys in Aisle 4?" "Our best customers like to use the wagons." |
June 27, 2026 Update: The Finalists
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David Brass Rare Books, Inc., of Calabasas, California, offers a signed, limited edition of Arthur Rackham's exceptional Aesop's Fables (William Heinemann, 1912).
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| Title page |
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| Signed limitation page, no. 1103 of 1450 |
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| The North Wind and the Sun |
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| The Oak and the Reeds |
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| Arthur Rackham AbeBooks listing accessed May 24, 2026 https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Aesops-Fables-RACKHAM-Arthur-illustrator-AESOP/32452382040/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=img |
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| Arthur Rackham AbeBooks item description |
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| Arthur Rackham AbeBooks store description |
Note: I was not able to attend the Arthur Rackham exhibition at Leicester Galleries in 1912 and neither were my great grandparents. Still, I might like to see the price list, from anyone who may have benefitted from art-loving great grandparents who were also pack rats.
Longtime readers may recall that I am also looking for a price list or catalogue from Peter Arno's 1932 exhibition at the Leicester Galleries.
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