Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration Deluxe Edition

The deluxe limited edition of Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration is signed by an impressive array of thirty leading children's book authors and illustrators including cover artist Maurice Sendak. Originally selling for about $100, this handsome, slipcased edition is priced considerably higher today—that is, if you can find a copy at all.

Cover art by Maurice Sendak

Oz:  The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration
Classic Editions listing accessed August 25, 2021

https://www.classiceditions.com/oz-the-100-year-celebration-signed-by-30-including-maurice-sendak-88-of-100/

Note:  Thanks to illustrator and children's book fancier Stephen Kroninger for bringing me up to speed on this deluxe edition and steering me clear of the flying monkeys.

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Vic Streit's Copy of Edward Koren's Do You Want To Talk About It?

Longtime contributor David from Manhattan writes, musing on a distinctive copy of cartoonist Edward Koren's classic collection Do You Want To Talk About It? (1976):

Here's an unusual Edward Koren item that came my way very recently from Riverow Bookshop in Owego, N.Y., and a first for me with any cartoon collection, an "extra-illustrated" copy of Do You Want to Talk About It? The pen & India ink drawing on 13 1/2 x 10 1/4" bond paper has been carefully cut to the page size of the hardcover book, folded, and rather skillfully attached along the extreme left edge of the front free endpaper. If you never held a copy of Koren's book, you might convince yourself that the fold-out feature (minus the artwork) was normal for the book. Inscribed for a father from a very thoughtful son, it seems unlikely that Dan Streit simply went to a bookstore signing with this prepared ahead of time, or hoped that a loose, larger than usual sheet of paper would inspire Koren to go to town. After a request for a backstory, I was informed that it came out of the library of illustrator Al Williamson, who died in 2010, but nothing about Vic and Dan Streit. However it came to be created and preserved, the $125 price tag was more than fair, and the very faint musty odor of the pages not unpleasant.

 

Bookseller image by John Spencer

Bookseller image by John Spencer

Note:  Thanks once again to David from Manhattan for sharing yet another great cartoon book along with its curious story. This is his forty-fourth contribution to this blog.

Book recipient Victor H. Streit's obituary may be found here.

Al Williamson's Wikipedia entry is here.

I hope other Koren connoisseurs with generously embellished or even "extra-illustrated" volumes of works by Edward Koren will photograph or scan these and send them to Attempted Bloggery for inclusion in future posts.

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Gahan Wilson: Of Mice and Monsters

Cartoonist Gahan Wilson has been in the thoughts of many these past days as his urgent need for expensive memory care has prompted well-wishers to pledge money for his support. Hoping to keep Wilson in our thoughts, Dick Buchanan has put his superlative scanning skills to work and imaged two works of original published art from the mid-1990s by the beloved cartoonist. One appeared in the New Yorker and the other in Playboy. The New Yorker piece requires no caption. It is, incidentally, a superb example of Wilson's use of wash.

Gahan Wilson
Original art
The New Yorker, September 4, 1995, page 64

Verso

The drawing may require no words, but the same can't be said of the editorial comment on the back of the art:

CKG.=Fact Checking?

Overlay

Gahan Wilson
The New Yorker, September 4, 1995, page 64

Now we leave the bizarre world of the commuter railway for the bizarre world of a child's bedroom. In the Playboy cartoon, Wilson achieves shading not with wash but through exquisite hatching. The technique is, if anything, even more remarkable:

"Read me the story again about the Closet Monster!"

Gahan Wilson

Original art

Published as "Read me the story again about the closet monster."

Playboy, October 1996, page 154

Verso

One could comment too on the different editorial approaches of two publications, but then it hardly seems necessary.

"Read me the story again about the closet monster."
Gahan Wilson
Playboy, October 1996, page 154

The cover:

Playboy, October 1996

Dick didn't scan the corresponding New Yorker cover, but equal time is only fair:

Edward Sorel
The New Yorker, September 4, 1995

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1995-09-04#folio=CV1

Note:  To support Gahan Wilson's memory care, visit his Go Fund Me campaign here.

My thanks to Dick Buchanan for contributing the outstanding scans of original Gahan Wilson art and for documenting the publication history in today's post. Dick maintains the comprehensive Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files from which he contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a timely post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Some Gahan Wilson Gag Cartoons 1955 - 1964." You won't find these scans of early Gahan Wilson cartoons anywhere else.

Aside from his Gahan Wilson work, Dick has been quite busy researching cartoonist John Gallagher. Since we last checked in on him, Dick has become an authority on this gag cartoonist. Here's what he has come up with:

John Gallagher Gag Cartoons 1951 - 1970

John Gallagher Part Two: 1000 Jokes! - Gag Cartoons 1954 - 1965

And, to be complete:

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Show Business Gag Cartoons 1945 - 1962

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Caption-less, Wordless Gag Cartoons 1946 – 1963

And there you have it. In case you didn't know, Attempted Bloggery seeks other high-quality scans of original Gahan Wilson art and published rarities.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Gahan Wilson

Dick Buchanan

Mice

Monsters

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

Original Playboy Cartoon Art

Edward Sorel

Attempted Bloggery's Maze of an Index

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