Saul Steinberg: Now or Never!

Many fine and wonderful items get away from me on eBay but this one hurt: an original drawing from The New Yorker by Saul Steinberg. It is from the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan, she a writer for the magazine, and it was sold hours before I ever became aware of it. I doubt whether one could have gotten such a good price, $750, even as far back as 1980. The publication date was in 1969.

Now or Never!
Saul Steinberg
Framed original art
The New Yorker, August 30, 1969, p. 23

The drawing may very well be untitled but I took the liberty . . .

Saul Steinberg's signature

There are, unfortunately, condition issues. Art of this quality should have been framed archivally from the getgo. The framing, I believe, was the work The New Yorker.

Detail

Saul Steinberg
eBay listing ended May 15, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/406928826919?itmmeta=01KRSRVE2VSGAREKR3PV814J9W&hash=item5ebed92227:g:1owAAeSw44JqByyE

Saul Steinberg
eBay item description

Now or Never!
Saul Steinberg
The New Yorker, August 30, 1969, p. 23

Now or Never!
Saul Steinberg
Framed original art
The New Yorker, August 30, 1969, p. 23

With a spot drawing of the Seine by FP and a drawing by Saul Steinberg

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-08-30/flipbook/022/

* * *

On the opposite page of the spread is a much smaller spot drawing signed FP. It is a lovely evocation of the Seine in Paris, a place New Yorker readers might well visit in the month of August. The art is direct and bold and in no way trying to compete with the Steinberg. Does anyone recognize the illustrator to whom those initials belong?

Spot drawing of the Seine
FP
The New Yorker, August 30, 1969, p. 22

05265

Arthur Rackham: The Hesperides

 

John Milton
Comus, 1634

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19819/19819-h/19819-h.htm

Arthur Rackham's original book illustration of the Hesperides, mythical nymphs of the evening, shows the trio encircling the tree with the golden apples and singing. Parts of the dragon Ladon, who guards the golden apples, may be seen just outside the fence. The superb image appeared in Heinemann's 1921 edition of John Milton's 1634 masque Comus. The artwork is available from Lucius Books in York, but it may cost you a golden apple.

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing accessed May 12, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/AMIDST-GARDENS-FAIR-HESPERUS-DAUGHTERS-THREE/32438922383/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks item description

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks bibliographic details

05264

Art Spiegelman: Raw 3 Call for Submissions—Enticing Jules Feiffer

Back in 1991, Art Spiegelman and his wife Françoise Mouly were actively trying to recruit cartoonist Jules Feiffer to create comic pages that would appear in their magazine, Raw 3.

This, apparently, was not their first attempt. Raw was now in its second series and this third issue would prove to be its last. Feiffer never would appear in the magazine. Was he tempted by Spiegelman's drawing of himself and his wife humorously discussing Feiffer? Surely, he must have been tickled. The cartoon is at the bottom of the call for submissions. It shows Spiegelman and Mouly just as they were depicted in Maus, the renowned graphic novel first serialized in Raw. When Feiffer decided to sell this original work at Swann Auction Galleries in 2024, he commented only about his regard for Spiegelman and Mouly, not about his failure to appear in their publication. But perhaps Spiegelman has given us the answer. The dialogue conveys how busy Feiffer was with the variety of creative projects he was taking on.

Art Spiegelman
Swann Auction Galleries listing of June 20, 2024

https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/_42945E9B36

Art Spiegelman
Swann Auction Galleries item description

The piece, which sold for $3,250 (buyer's premium included), has now resurfaced on AbeBooks. It is offered by Raptis Rare Books of Palm Beach for $7,500. A second chance, if you will.

Art Spiegelman
AbeBooks listing accessed May 10, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Raw-Magazine-Call-Submissions-Print-Personalized/32203670085/bd

Art Spiegelman
AbeBooks item description

05263

Glenn Shea's Copy of Nightcrawlers by Charles Addams

No doubt there is a story behind a copy of the cartoon collection Nightcrawlers (1957) which was signed by Charles Addams in 1973, some sixteen years after publication. It is inscribed by the artist to Glenn Shea with a "large" drawing of Morticia, who is tall and thin enough to dominate a page.

Charles Addams
AbeBooks listing accessed May 10, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Nightcrawlers-Addams-Chas-Charles-Simon-Schuster/32442827389/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=img

Charles Addams
AbeBooks item description 

Image added May 16, 2026

05262

Constantin Alajálov: The Graduate Looks to His Future

The idea that new college graduates might face limited employment prospects has been around for quite a while. We know that such concerns become especially prominent in times of economic uncertainty such as the current moment. Constantin Alajálov's New Yorker cover art for the issue of June 22, 1935, was published in the midst of the Great Depression.

Constantin Alajálov
Full original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

The graduate, we see, faces a variety of job possibilities, the ones on the left being fantasies of prosperity while the ones on the right suggest a workaday hustle to which the college degree might not contribute very much.

Constantin Alajálov
Original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

Alajálov's original was sold in the Illustration Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries in December.

Constantin Alajálov
Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art sale of December 4, 2025

https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/new-yorker-constantin-alajalov-1900-1987-the-grad_067c029639

Constantin Alajálov
Swann Auction Galleries Illustration Art sale item description

A comparison of the art with the published cover leads to one very obvious observation: the original has no color.

Constantin Alajálov
Original art
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

Constantin Alajálov
The New Yorker, June 22, 1935

This raises one of two possibilities: either all the color has faded over the past ninety years or Alajálov added the color during the magazine's color separation process.

Have we seen this before? Twelve years ago I posted another Alajálov cover, this one showing a dog's family tree from 1938, with what Bonhams described as its study. I followed the auction house's lead here, but the cover and its supposed preliminary art are close to identical except for the matter of color.

Constantin Alajálov
The New Yorker, February 12, 1938

Constantin Alajálov
Preliminary art [?]
The New Yorker, February 12, 1938

05261

Milt Gross: In Response to a Mislaid Letter

Here's a little souvenir for a fan, Donald, from cartoonist Milt Gross. The AbeBooks seller Peruse the Stacks identifies the two figures as Dave Tchitchik and J.R. the Wonder Dog, characters from Dave's Delicatessen, Gross's newspaper comic strip. (In a Gross animated short, J.R. the Wonder Dog appears with Count Screwloose, from another of the cartoonist's strips.) Dave's Delicatessen ran between 1931 and 1935, allowing us to approximately date this card. Gross apologizes for some delay, as Donald's "letter got mislaid."

"H'ya / Donald /ol' kid/ This is a /little late / but your letter / got mislaid / Sincerely / Milt Gross"

Milt Gross
AbeBooks accessed May 7, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/Original-Cartoon-Dave-Tchitchik-J.R-Wonder/32440806438/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=img

Milt Gross
AbeBooks item description

05260

Chon Day: Wartime Communication

An original cartoon by Chon Day was sold on eBay in early April. It has a military theme, but recalls some details from stateside.

"Please limit your call to three minutes—"
Chon Day
Original cartoon art

The eBay seller writes, "this is an old original Chon Day New Yorker editorial cartoon. Maybe it's from World War II or something? it very well could be, his work was being published in the 30s 40s 50s, all them decades." I'll buy that it's "from World War II or something." I'll go further and suggest that it's set in the Pacific Theater.

The back of the art isn't as helpful as it might be. There is certainly nothing here to suggest publication in The New Yorker, which the seller so wishes to believe. The date is written as a Monday, May 1—I can't make out the rest—but where and what year? The first of May did fall on a a Monday in 1944—that year would have to be my first guess.

Chon Day
eBay listing ended April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236723752267?_skw=signed+New+Yorker&itmmeta=01KQXEWY4Q6SQR2MGBAP04TC77&hash=item371dd5cd4b:g:pYsAAeSwX1Zprxlu&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDJVNuOpi7dNbPINFSp3a%2Brt%2FzsgnpbtOeWJIdCEWVPPKdbbcKdERS3a4eDYy%2BBrB8%2F69a7xdaSARNDAElNWfDX1EWX%2BohnjA06Lr7vIKMGXAlQ2yOqhgHM%2F2%2Bg%2B1Qaqb6pwsuRxtncdfUurzs225XA3Gq9GlPp0Qbl2G2pnmnocNpeB5%2BD0%2FO2HXHp1bJivzAcmg7vxs12Zp4uM7a6mZZOsF50wIZzwh7VCzM%2BN1GeZFgPjO6g9CiwG4qq%2BKnd2dI%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8ji866_Zw

Chon Day
eBay item description

Note:  Please be a good soldier and get in touch if you know just where and when this Chon Day cartoon was published. Just have the operator ring me. And don't talk all day.

05259