Attempted Bloggery: Lou Myers: A Good Read

The original artwork for a four-panel sequential cartoon by Lou Myers, nicely framed and matted, is currently available on eBay.

Lou Myers
Original art
Book World
The Washington Post, October 4, 1981
Inscribed "To Rhoda—Happy '75' Affectionately, Lou"

This label on the back tells us quite a lot. If we had the artwork without it, it would be a staggering challenge to figure out precisely where and when it was published. The label also clues us in as to the identity of Rhoda, the artwork's dedicatee. The book title Jumbo, we learn, was added some time after the publication in the Post, indicating very likely some sort of inside joke. What might that have been?

Jumbo, it turns out, is an illustrated history for children about the world's most famous elephant ever. It was published on October 1, 1992. The author, Rhoda Blumberg (1917-2016), turned seventy-five on December 13, 1992, just two months after the book's publication. Thus it makes perfect sense that Myers modified a 1981 book review drawing in late 1992, adding the name of this particular Rhoda's brand new book and then presenting it to her for a very special birthday. The writer's death in 2016 does much, sadly, to explain why the cartoon is on the market now.