On Sunday, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries of Maine sold an original illustration by Ronald Searle for S. J. Perelman's "Nostasia in Asia" series in Travel & Leisure. The color piece, with its muted yellows and oranges, shows Perelman traveling by local conveyance through a stage-like desert landscape without clear geographic features. It is signed by the artist and dated 1973. The word nostasia is one you won't see used by anyone other than Perelman, nor will you find it in the dictionary. The travel pieces were collected in Vinegar Puss (1975), alas, without the illustrations.
 |
| Ronald Searle's signature |
 |
| Ronald Searle Thomaston Place Auction Galleries listing accessed July 9, 2023 before the sale |
 |
| July 9, 2023 presale numbers |
 |
| Sold! |
Note: For more on the collaboration between Ronald Searle and S. J. Perelman, see Matt Jones's post "S. J. Perelman" on the Searle tribute blog here and, if you are so inclined, "Round the Bend in Eighty Days with S. J. Perelman" here. I believe this latter piece was misunderstood by someone from the auction house, hence the listing's assertion that this drawing was published in The New Yorker and not in Travel & Leisure. I'm eager, by the way, to see a photo or scan of this illustration as it was published, presumably in Travel & Leisure, circa 1973-1974.
Two words sorely missing from the OED are nostasia and bloggery. That's pretty much all that my writing has in common with S. J. Perelman's. The dictionary's slight does much to explain why the auction house thought Perelman's piece was called "Nostalgia in the Middle East."
04377
No comments:
Post a Comment