Anatol Kovarsky: Fourth of July Fireworks at Coney Island

Anatol Kovarsky's New Yorker cover for the issue of July 6, 1963, shows a lone fireworks barge off Coney Island illuminating the night sky on the Fourth of July. The original art was sold by the CartoonBank on November 14, 2006 with a letter attesting that its value at the time was $9,000, presumably the selling price. This spring it came to eBay professionally framed alongside the printed magazine cover.

The colors in the waves off Coney Island may have faded over time. It is also possible that the colors were enhanced in The New Yorker's printing process.

The seller's asking price on April 1 was $12,000 or Best Offer. 

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay listing accessed April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/306850543292?

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay item description

The seller was apparently new to the auction site. Within a day, the price was cut in half.

April 2

By April 7, the price was reduced another $200.

April 7

Next came $5,200:

April 9?

The seller next raised the price to $5,500, in order to make a seller offer of $500 off. Thus it sold on April 19 for the seller offer of $5,000.

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Roxie Munro: Covering the Court for WDVM-TV9, Washington, DC

New Yorker cover artist and children's book illustrator Roxie Munro spent five years working as a television courtroom artist in Washington, DC, also covering the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. This came to an end in 1981 when she sold her first cover to The New Yorker and moved to New York City. One of her courtroom pieces, from January 1980, was offered on eBay last year. It was originally broadcast on WDVM-TV9, then an NBC affiliate. This sketch illustrates the Abscam trial. 

Ms. Munro had a correspondence with the seller:

Roxie Munro
eBay listing accessed November 27, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/167960611886?_skw=Roxie+Munro+Court&itmmeta=01KB34RXGS9V44SS1T50913J52&hash=item271b3b8c2e:g:l0UAAeSwOCxoxg6y&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1fqIGVGC9CLypOke6HjNQO1dnlTuJf4NTF6hnp5VwXxC3W%2B8EGUcJNirMfhOBipzP9DYAY5IWMxrDl%2F7flsn%2BndqIMk5

XR3rOlMbGC5D2LEyc8v0tUnSHtsbr87n1vaHk72ufLfmB725Wma8QeeF7OmOZUsaFI3HHA8730W446FcgF6nsKZJne0FTEHgzIuCqcBAg8EaZ7igkVMqzrK56CgkavoNmbUyCsUfGHxy0an9aynd2dW7z84Vo1n4VjuD3YDeQ6tryvOvUa4e2B662rMTmH22bIr6d7VvndgNIpKzw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8rY4-TYZg

Roxie Munro
eBay item description

Note:  The present work was previously offered for sale by Alexandria Auctions. 

05287

Arthur Rackham: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, From The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

In 1929, George G. Harrap & Co, Ltd., published a splendid new edition of Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. With this volume, Harrap introduced the practice of setting aside some ten "special copies" with original drawings produced by Rackham that did not appear in the edition. Recently, Peter Harrington brough copy no. 2 to the market. Rackham's original drawing illustrates Goldsmith's An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog from Chapter 17. Priced at over $28,000 US, it found a buyer in less than a week.

Endpapers

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing as priced on May 12, 2026

Sold!

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing ended by May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Vicar-Wakefield-RACKHAM-Arthur-illus-GOLDSMITH/32444214230/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks item description

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Nelson Rockefeller's Copy of The Lonely Ones by William Steig

New Yorker cartoonist William Steig's book of drawings The Lonely Ones was published in 1942. The book has a foreword by The New Yorker's drama critic Wolcott Gibbs. Steig inscribed a copy to Nelson Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the grandson of the founder of Standard Oil. Nelson Rockefeller was an avid art collector and patron of the arts. An AbeBooks listing of the book informs us that Rockefeller kept a woodcarving by Steig on his desk in New York. Steig wrote, "Best wishes to / Nelson Rockefeller / from / William Steig / I hope you like these / drawings." Did the future Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States appreciate them? The AbeBooks seller, First Edition Rare Books, LLC, of Cincinnatti, notes that "This copy appears unread"—so, asked and answered.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed June 29, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Lonely-Foreword-Wolcott-Gibbs-Steig-William/32467844220/bd

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?

05285

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #996

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.

"Don't you just want to pinch those little buns?"

These captions weren't ready for the grill:

"We raised ours free-range."
"We never used a dog walker."

05284

George Booth at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration"

Cartoonist George Booth (June 28, 1926-November 1, 2022) was born one-hundred years ago today. He is best known for his work in The New Yorker, a magazine that was one year of age when he was born and that got to celebrate its own centennial last year. The Society of Illustrators held a major exhibition in honor of the magazine, "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration" curated by cartoonist Liza Donnelly. Three original Booth works were included.

Booth's cover art for the issue of February 16, 1976, has a dog and a cat sitting on an area rug facing away from each other. They are surrounded by ornate interior patterns. The animals do not seem to be paying attention to each other exactly, but then they cannot be said to be unaware of each other's presence. 

 

George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, February 16, 1976

George Booth
The New Yorker, February 16, 1976

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1976-02-16/flipbook/CV1/

A cartoon from the issue of August 13, 1973, is part of a recurring Booth scenario: a man sits in his bathtub talking about whatever is on his mind while his wife does housework. The home is illuminated by a bare light bulb and filled with cats. 

The artwork reveals Booth's use of patches on both the man and the woman to get their faces just how he wanted them. There is a pencil notation at the lower right that indicates where the signature was moved photographically for publication.

"How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, August 13, 1973, p. 78

"How about supper in the tub tonight, Hon?"
George Booth
The New Yorker, August 13, 1973, p. 78

With a drawing by George Booth

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1973-08-13/flipbook/078/

Finally, there was a cartoon about making music and making dinner:

"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

"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

With a spot by Jeanine[?] and a drawing by George Booth

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1976-09-27/flipbook/036/

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. 

05283

The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 207

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.

The monthly cash prize contest has new rules: Five dollars will still buy up to three entries but now three additional dollars optionally can buy a fourth entry, and so forth ad infinitum. Real cash prizes are fifty percent of the total prize pool (previously $500) for first place and ten percent of the prize pool (previously $100) for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $260 into the first fifty-two pay-to-play contests and this fifty-third challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $265. Having achieved runner-up status with three previous cash prize entries, I've collected $300 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, at least for the time being. Because the contest is no longer subsidized by cash from the vast coffers of CartoonStock, the contest's odds should now be just a little less favorable. Yet the prize pool, just before I entered near the contest's close, already exceeded the old thousand dollar contest. Enough people must have felt inclined to pay $3 for additional entries. 

The prize pool on June 22 at the 10:00 PM hour

My entries at 11:20 PM on June 22 raised the prize pool even higher:

I found this contest to be especialy difficult, at least when sober. My three captions are listed below, above the break. In my head, I can hear the contest judge Lawrence Wood groaning—or worse. I did not pay for additional entries, essentially throwing the last two captions back in the water.

"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."

05282