Annals of Captioning: Further Hunting for The New Yorker in Print

Last Sunday I here related my search for additional print copies of the December 8 New Yorker, the one which announced the finalists to Cartoon Caption Contest #969 among whom I was for the first time included. The Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side was well stocked with the December 1 issue, the previous week's, which by then should have been returned to the distributer. To my frustration, I could find no other store nearby with copies. My quest was noted on Ink Spill and even illustrated by Michael Maslin, who very generously offered me his own copy.

This week the world and The New Yorker have moved on to the December 15 issue. But it crossed my mind to ask, could Barnes & Noble still be a full week behind everybody else? It was worth a brisk walk to find out. 

Here's what I found there yesterday on the newsstand:

Do you see it there? The bookseller was once again brimming with copies of The New Yorker and this time—yes!—it was the December 8 issue I was seeking. Somehow Barnes & Noble was, thank goodness, still a full week behind!

The New Yorker copies were buried behind The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and Vanity Fair:

In sum, there were eleven copies of The New Yorker issue holding my name's first appearance in the hundred-year-old magazine. I'm not sure I will ever have a need for so many but, just to be sure, as an affirmation of my achievement sure to convince any doubters who may come my way and as a legacy to pass on to future generations whether they want it or not, I bought them all.

Now no one can doubt I write for The New Yorker. An eight-word caption, that is.

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