Margaret Thurlow's Copy of James Thurber's Fables for Our Time

Margaret Thurlow worked as a secretary and copy editor at the New Yorker. She assisted in answering James Thurber's reader correspondence. She was also able to take dictation from Thurber, which the author apparently found very helpful. In her copy of Fables for Our Time (1940), Thurber acknowledges her assistance with the inscription "For Margaret Thurlow/Who helps me to get people told." He has generously included a group of amusing drawings. There are three classic Thurber dogs—or perhaps it's more accurate to tally it as one dog drawn three times—always facing left. Between two of the dogs is a woman down on all fours who is dwarfed by them; she alone here is right-facing. A butterfly hovers above a flower on the left catching the attention of one of the dogs. On the opposite page is a rabbit, also shown in left-facing profile, and very similar in stride to the dog seen at the top.

The book was offered for sale on AbeBooks for $2,000, but it was also listed on eBay. It was sold on the latter site for a best offer price of $1,600.

James Thurber
Fables for Our Time
New York:  Harper and Brothers, 1940

James Thurber
AbeBooks Listing Retrieved October 21, 2018

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12169552303&searchurl=bi%3D0%26ds%3D30%26bx%3Doff%26sortby%3D1%26kn%3D%2522The%2BNew%2BYorker%2522%26recentlyadded%3Dall%26sgnd%3Don&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp3-_-image4

Best Offer Accepted: $1,600

Note:  Is "get people told" a Midwestern regionalism? It is not listed online in the Dictionary of American Regional English. What do you say?

Who doesn't like books inscribed by James Thurber with intriguing inscriptions or embellished by him with clever drawings? It's all sought after here on Attempted Bloggery. Let's see what you've got.

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