Jack and Betty's Copy of The Art in Cartooning

Bauman Rare Books of Philadelphia offers a second copy of The Art in Cartooning (1975) for $3,200, making this book that once belonged to Jack and Betty the most expensive copy yet on the market. Jack could indeed be the same Jack Herbert whose copy of the book listed by the same rare book dealer we saw in yesterday's post. Cartoonist Henry Martin graced the book with a drawing of Betty painting Jack's portrait. Bill Woodman depicts the older couple roller skating together. Cartoons by Marvin Tannenberg and Roland Michaud both allude to golf and perhaps to the couple's differing opinions of it. Curiously, Michaud has not signed or drawn in any of the previous seven copies of this book we have seen here. Sam Gross gives the couple a cat cartoon with an unseen but talkative mouse.

On the next page, Lou Myers shows the couple to be doting grandparents and adds an unusual bit of color to the hats. George Booth provides the half-title with a complicated double-drawing, the wheels of an old-time car in profile doubling as a driver's goggles and eyes seen en face. He includes an eight-line verse. The whole thing seems to have a lot of moving parts and surely must have been worked out by him in advance.  

 

The Art in Cartooning
Bauman Rare Books listing accessed April 13, 2024

https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/booth-george-new-yorker/art-in-cartooning/126825.aspx

Note:  Has anything like George Booth's light verse been encountered before? Do tell.

For that matter, this blog would benefit from additional images of drawn-in copies of The Art in Cartooning—why would I stop at eight?—or of other books drawn upon by any of these seven artists.

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