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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A work of original New Yorker art by Sam Cobean was sold yesterday at Heritage Auctions:
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| Sam Cobean Original art The New Yorker, June 11, 1949, p. 20 |
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| Sam Cobean Heritage Auctions listing of February 18, 2026 |
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| Sam Cobean Heritage Auctions item description |
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| Sam Cobean The New Yorker, June 11, 1949, p. 20 |
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| Sam Cobean Original art The New Yorker, June 11, 1949, p. 20 |
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| With cartoons by Sam Cobean and Alan Dunn |
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| "What a deal out there, what a deal! Houseboys! Coolies! Anything you want, just snap your fingers." Alan Dunn The New Yorker, June 11, 1949, p. 21 |
Note: Sam Cobean's art doesn't get seen on this blog nearly enough, so readers who would like to share their hidden Cobean treasures here should, well, play it as it lies.
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In the Prohibition Era, researching John Held, Jr.'s, Map of New York Night Clubs must have been a labor of love. The map, we are told, resulted "from actual survey by and under the direction of Lip Stick." The New Yorker's nightlife reporter Lois Long, who wrote under the name Lipstick, therefore must greatly have assisted Held in this endeavor. She was married to New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno—no stranger himself to the speakeasy scene—from 1927 to 1931, the latter being the year in which this Manhattan map appeared in The Works of John Held, Jr.
https://oldmapgallery.com/products/nyc-ny-john-held-jrs-map-of-new-york-night-clubs
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| John Held, Jr. eBay listing accessed February 16, 2026 |
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| John Held, Jr. eBay item description |
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A letter from the year 2000 consists of a mailing envelope and its contents: a signed and inscribed postcard as well as a signed and inscribed note with a drawing of three men seated in a restaurant. The group of papers is offered for sale by AbeBooks seller L'Ancienne Librairie and is priced at $1,672.78 US. No doubt that considerable cost is because the sender, Jean-Jacques Sempé, was the extremely popular cartoonist based in Paris. In addition, the recipient of the mailing, Angelo Rinaldi, was the French writer and literary critic who passed away in May of 2025. The envelope is addressed to Rinaldi care of his publisher L'Express and it appears to be appropriately stamped and postmarked.
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| Jean-Jacques Sempé AbeBooks listing accessed February 15, 2026, translated by Google |
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| Jean-Jacques Sempé AbeBooks item description, translated by Google |
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Some original illustrations make no sense without the context of their original purpose. One can enjoy, surely, Edward Koren's undated illustration of a man in a checkered suit presenting the contents of a bucket to a giant frog and still not understand what it signifies. Heritage Auctions, which sold this artwork in 2016, said the man in the picture was feeding the frog. He could also plausibly be offering hydration or a chance to wash up. Whatever the case, we are unlikely to know without seeing how the illustration was used in print. It does look a bit like a TV Guide drawing, but really it could have appeared almost anywhere.
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| Edward Koren Heritage Auctions listing of October 9, 2016 |
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| Edward Koren Heritage Auctions item description |
Note: Any reader who can shed some light on the intended use of this illustration and where it may have been published is encouraged to come forward.
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Original Charles Addams art published in The New Yorker issue of February 8, 1947 shows a theater full of moviegoers and their shared reaction to a big screen scream.
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| Charles Addams Original art The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 27 |
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| Charles Addams Swann Galleries listing of December 14, 2017 |
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| Charles Addams Swann Galleries item description |
With such a classic original selling for $31,200 (including the 30% buyer's premium), well above the 2017 presale estimate of $12,000 to $18,000, one might wonder what an Addams rough drawing of the same subject might be worth in today's market. Well, thanks to Swann Galleries's recent Illustration Art sale, we actually can provide the answer. An unusually detailed pencil study from a Vermont collection went up on the auction block in December of 2025. Perhaps the owners were aware that Swann had sold the original finished drawing eight years earlier.
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| Charles Addams Preliminary art The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 27 |
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| Charles Addams Swann Galleries listing of December 4, 2025 |
Note that in the intervening years, Swann's top buyer's premium has come down from 30% to 27%. There's something to be said for competition. Still, $9,525 with said premium is a remarkable price for a New Yorker rough. Indeed, many Addams New Yorker originals in this blog's archives have sold for less than that. Today, though, Addams's work continues to appreciate and that seems to be carrying over even to the roughs.
Here's the relevant page from Addams and Evil (1947):
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| https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/HumorMagazines/Addams%20And%20Evil%20(1947).pdf |
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| Charles Addams Preliminary art The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 27 |
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| Charles Addams Original art The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 27 |
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| Charles Addams The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 27 |
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| With a spot drawing by Morris Neuwirth and a cartoon by Charles Addams |
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| Stop Pay Toll Morris Neuwirth The New Yorker, February 8, 1947, p. 26 |
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Inked: Cartoons, Confessions, Rejected Ideas and Secret Sketches from The New Yorker's Joe Dator (2021) is by none other than . . . The New Yorker's Joe Dator. Keith's copy was inscribed by Joe in 2023 with an original sketch of the character Walter. This year marks Joe's twentieth at The New Yorker, and we're all the better off for it.
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In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #978 from the issue of February 9, 2026, a man opens his front door to let in an ocean wave while a woman inside the house stands on a surf board awaiting its arrival. The man speaks. The drawing is by Michael Maslin.
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| "I left the back door open." |
These captions didn't hang ten:
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| "Cowabunga." "Be back for dinner. I'm making fish." "Is this one gnarly enough?" |
Note: In 2019, Michael Maslin wrote a Personal History about his (and other New Yorker cartoonists's) use of the versatile caption "It's for you." Read it here. After all, it's for you.
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An early cartoon original by Peter Arno was sold by Clarke Auction Gallery of Larchmont in 2020.
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| "Now remember your promise!" Peter Arno Original art For Members Only (1935) |
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| "Now remember your promise!" Peter Arno Framed original art For Members Only (1935) |
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| The back of the frame |
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| The caption |
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| Peter Arno Clarke Auction Gallery listing of April 26, 2020 |
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| Peter Arno Clarke Auction Gallery item description |
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| https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/clarke/fine-art-jewelry-antiques-asian-midcentury-auction-5040?page=2#catalog |
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