The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons

WETA, owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, is the public television station of our nation's capital. In 2004, the station chose to up its game and commissioned the Cartoon Bank to create The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons. It is neither very rare nor very common, but two copies of it were spotted in February on eBay.

Front cover cartoon by Mick Stevens
The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons

The back cover's cartoon is also by Mick Stevens! What are the chances of that?

Cartoons by Al Ross and Mischa Richter

The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons
eBay listing accessed February 9, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18518557123...

The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons
eBay item description

Staten Island cartoonist Aaron Bacall (1939-2015) caught my eye at the top of the Index of Artists. According to Ink Spill, he is a member of the One Club, a cartoonist who had one—and only one—cartoon published in The New Yorker. In his case, it's a gag about a mobile phone. It's a good one, but what on earth could it be doing here in the WETA book?

The answer is that it isn't here. Instead we have this cartoon:

Is Bacall then actually a member of some "Two Club?" He is not. His Kermit cartoon is listed as unpublished. You might very well ask why an unpublished gag is included in a New Yorker collection. I'll have to get back to you on that.

One final note: as a native New Yorker, I'm proud to say that WNET New York's collection was published in 2003, beating WETA by a year.

Covers by Frank Modell and Mick Stevens

Note:  The history of the Cartoon Bank's privately-published collections is shrouded in mystery. How many are there? (Ink Spill quotes a Cartoon Bank employee as answering, "like a thousand," here.) How small were the press runs? It's a muddle, because some books in the series were distributed nationally and others may have been given out only at a single event. I would like to hear, of course, from anyone with the answers. I'd also like to see collections published by other PBS stations and I'd like to hear about other Cartoon Bank collections which might also contain, heaven forfend, any previously unpublished cartoons. (If there is a New Yorker Book of Unpublished Cartoons, I want to see it!) Also curious is the appearance of one cartoonist on the front and back covers. Did this happen more than once?

Michael Maslin's Ink Spill tribute written on the passing of One Clubber Aaron Bacall may be found here. Check out his, Bacall's, only New Yorker cartoon. Only published New Yorker cartoon, that is.

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