Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts

Saturday, July 13, 2019

A Guillermo Mordillo Press Photo from 1980

Argentine cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo passed away in Spain on June 29, 2019 at age 86. Born in Buenos Aires, he moved to Paris in 1963. His cartoons were often vividly colored but they rarely if ever had words and could be enjoyed by people the world over.

Those who don't recognize this cartoonist by his name may still be familiar with his distinctive style. The following sampling of gags from Mordillo's Cartoons/Opus 1 (1986) is borrowed from a completed eBay listing. (The softcover book sold for $6.50 plus $3.27 domestic shipping.)



https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cartoons-MORDILLO-Cartoons-Opus-1-Softcover-1986-Intro-in-German-Language-/143316512177?hash=item215e546db1%3Ag%3A9wwAAOSwvNVcKnXo&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Two prints of a presumedly rare press photo of the cartoonist by photographer Tom Blau are currently listed both on Amazon and on eBay. The example on Amazon has a handwritten date of 1980 while the eBay photograph is stamped March 6, 1980. I'm going to go out on a limb here and tentatively date the photo c. 1980.
Tom Blau
Camera Press, London
Guillermo Mordillo, c. 1980

Verso


Mordillo
Amazon Item Description Retrieved July 12, 2019


The eBay photograph, on the other hand, has a less expensive initial offering price, has a 15% discount on top of that, and has free shipping included. As if that weren't enough, it has the Make Offer option available too. How Amazon is eating everyone's lunch is a mystery to me.
Tom Blau
Camera Press, London
Guillermo Mordillo, c. 1980
Verso


Mordillo
eBay Listing Retrieved July 12, 2019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ARGENTINIAN-CARTOONIST-GUILLERMO-MORDILLO-PHOTO-1970s-8345/140830622229?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Df39f3631a6e64012a06cd4a4691962cc%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D392325486082%26itm%3D140830622229%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851


Mordillo
eBay Item Description Retrieved July 12, 2019
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ARGENTINIAN-CARTOONIST-GUILLERMO-MORDILLO-PHOTO-1970s-8345/140830622229?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Df39f3631a6e64012a06cd4a4691962cc%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D392325486082%26itm%3D140830622229%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851



Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Guillermo Mordillo

Press Photos

Attempted Bloggery's Opus 1 Index

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Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Cape Cod 2019: Peter de Sève's Summer Getaway

"Summer Getaway" is the title of Peter de Sève's New Yorker cover of July 28, 2008. Titles add little if anything to the magazine's covers, but at least this one has a clever double meaning. 
Peter de Sève
"Summer Getaway"
The New Yorker, July 28, 2008


No surprise here:  "Summer Getaway" is also the title of the New York Puzzle Company's 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of the New Yorker cover. 
Peter de Sève
"Summer Getaway"The New Yorker, July 28, 2008
New York Puzzle Company


It's available for purchase on Amazon. It was also available as entertainment last week in our rental home on Cape Cod, where we traveled for what was a little too early to call a summer getaway.
Peter de Sève
"Summer Getaway"
The New Yorker, July 28, 2008
New York Puzzle Company


This puzzle as a work in progress may be seen here. Spoiler alert:  the full solution is about to be revealed below.


 The puzzle solved:
Note:  Credit for the completion of this puzzle goes to my family and especially to my wife. I had nothing whatever to do with the days-long effort except for the photography.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons: Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition

The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons (2018) is published in a regular $100 edition (currently discounted to $50 on Amazon) and an $800 deluxe edition with three prints signed respectively by Roz Chast, Bruce Eric Kaplan, and editor Bob Mankoff (currently discounted to $560.48 on Amazon). There is also a lesser-known Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition which has made its way onto Amazon at $199.99—twice the standard edition's undiscounted price—plus $48.59 for non-Prime shipping. So what does this Exclusive Edition contain that's not a part of the standard edition? Why, according to the listing on Amazon there's a "bonus frameable print." That's it. But for all that extra money one would think that's got to be quite a print!
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons:  A Semi-Serious A-to-Z Archive
Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
Amazon Listing Retrieved January 11, 2019
But wait! It turns out this listing is merely one Amazon bookseller's exorbitant price. Far away from Amazon, the Barnes & Noble website prices their exclusive edition competitively:

This looks to be the exclusive print: a bookstore cartoon by Peter Steiner.








The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons:  A Semi-Serious A-to-Z Archive
Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
Barnes & Noble Listing Retrieved January 14, 2019



Note:  Readers are encouraged to send confirmatory scans or photos of this B&N exclusive edition print, or better still of the three signed prints in the more expensive deluxe edition. Buyers shouldn't have to purchase these prints sight unseen. Readers wishing to purchase the Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition are advised to avoid the Amazon seller currently offering it and to purchase it instead from Barnes & Noble. Of course, of course!

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Saturday, August 18, 2018

Amazon Slashes

Let me get a quick headcount: Has anyone been clamoring for a monumental New Yorker cartoon collection organized by topic? The Cartoon Bank published enough single-subject collections to exhaust the general demand for them years ago. But now a single vast collection organized into more than 250 cartoon tropes is on the near horizon.



The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons is to be published this fall as a two-volume, hardcover, slipcased edition priced at an easy-to-remember $100. With nearly 3,000 cartoons, that comes out to about 3 1/3 cents per cartoon. In contrast, the current August 20, 2018 issue of the New Yorker contains a piddling nine cartoons and costs $8.99. I don't need my calculator to tell you that's a buck a cartoon, with the articles and ads thrown in gratis. So even at full price, one can make the case that the big new book is a good deal for New Yorker cartoon fans. (Spoiler alert: I'm a New Yorker cartoon fan.) For those who insist on spending more, there will also be an $800 deluxe limited edition which includes signed and numbered prints by Bob Mankoff (the book's editor and the New Yorker's former cartoon editor), Bruce Eric Kaplan, and Roz Chast. It will have an edition size of 1000. That comes to about 3 1/3 cents per cartoon plus $233 per signed print. It also comes out to a projected $800,000 in sales for the deluxe edition alone.
"...from 1924 to the present." I'd pay good money to see those 1924 cartoons!
(The New Yorker's first issue was published on February 21, 1925.)
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons deluxe edition
Amazon.com
Retrieved August 17, 2018





It's a beautiful set, to be sure, with seemingly high production values of the sort we New Yorker acolytes haven't been treated to in a while. New Yorker cartoon collections used to be joyous affairs, published as sturdy hardcovers with well-designed, often gorgeous dust jackets meant to be treasured in personal libraries for a lifetime. Of late, the New Yorker has been systematically cheapening the cartoon collections it publishes, putting out annual collections and even the milestone 90th anniversary collection as a series of "bookazines." For those who don't know, bookazines are apparently printed on the same presses which publish magazines, but they pretend to be books even as they are sold on magazine racks. They look like throwaways and lack the substantive heft of a book. Then last year no annual collection was published, period.

 So, having engineered its own drought of meaningful cartoon collections, the New Yorker is now at long last trying to produce something that will look impressive on a bookshelf. At this point, The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons is the only game in town. But who exactly is it meant for?

 The book's title is pretentious, of course, even for Mr. Mankoff. Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics (1976) is an informative book worthy of calling itself an encyclopedia. The New Yorker's Encyclopedia basically is just a lengthy list of cartoon tropes supplemented with a few paragraphs of amusing verbiage and copiously illustrated with what should be many, many fine cartoons. Of course, I haven't seen the book, let alone read it, but I don't see why that should stop me from being the first to review it. I'm sure it will be extremely entertaining, at least in part, but it is never going to be the quintessential reference on desert island cartoons it pretends to be.

 This book's raison d'être is simple: it will be vigorously marketed as an essential holiday gift for fans of the New Yorker cartoon, and there are millions of us. Should we pay full price? Of course not. As a matter of principle, you should wait for a discount unless you can get a couple of New Yorker cartoonists to sign your copy and add maybe a doodle or two. You can always pay full price for a gift if you need to, but probably not for yourself. The price is bound to come down eventually, and sooner rather than later.

 But, wait! On August 1, Michael Maslin's Ink Spill blog announced to the world of New Yorker cartoonists and their fans that the prepublication price of The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons had been drastically reduced on Amazon to $55.23.
Ink Spill
August 1, 2018


That's great news, right? It's finally time to pounce! The one possible caveat here is that seemingly the exact same book is listed on Amazon with two separate publication dates and two very different prices. What gives? Could it be a mistake? Surely not on Amazon!
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com Screenshot Retrieved August 4, 2018





Well, I decided not to take any chances. I placed my order pronto—that very day—locking in the savings. I had a forgotten $50 Amazon gift card (forgotten by me, not by Amazon) and I signed up for an Amazon Store card to receive a $10 bonus, so my copy of the book was already paid for. By the way, the discounted price of $55.23 divided by 3,000 cartoons comes to a mere 1.8 cents per cartoon. Now that's an insanely good deal. And shipping is free.

Amazon kept me in the loop. On August 15, Amazon informed me of the estimated arrival date:



Not too shabby! But twenty-four hours later, the email bots at Amazon changed their tune:


Thus my adroit order was abruptly canceled for an obviously spurious reason and I was redirected back to the $100 full-price copy of the book. The now unavailable edition once priced at $55.23 remains a ghostly presence on the Amazon site.

The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com Screenshot Retrieved August 17, 2018



September 24, 2018 Update: Even before release, the book has been discounted again, this time to $61.33.
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com screenshot retrieved September 24, 2018


November 30, 2018 Update:  The book has been discounted to well below the price at which I initially was denied a copy. The deluxe edition is also significantly reduced. Was this the plan all along? I doubt it.
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com screenshot retrieved November 30, 2018

December 1, 2018 Update:  The price of the regular edition dropped again overnight. 
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com screenshot retrieved December 1, 2018


December 2, 2018 Update:  And now the price of the deluxe edition has dropped again. Judging by this and the price of the regular edition, some algorithm is at work determining the price.


The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons
Amazon.com screenshot retrieved December 2, 2018

May 22, 2019 Update:  I bought my copy today for $43.99. It's not the lowest price ever, but it's more than a $10 discount from the offer Amazon refused to honor. This comes to 1.47 cents per cartoon.


 Note:  Long before I tried to buy the Encyclopedia, I set myself a target price of $65, although I happily would pay full price for a copy signed by multiple cartoonists. As part of the promotion, I expect Bob Mankoff to be signing a great many copies of this book as he has with other books in the past. I might very well spring for a full-priced copy signed by him, but I'm wary that he might try to sign the entire press run.

I have no plans to purchase the deluxe edition, but I might if it were to come down to about $265, which I don't expect it to. Nevertheless, once it is published, I would be delighted if an owner would send me photos or scans of the three lithographs for inclusion on this blog.
Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Bob Mankoff

David Remnick

Roz Chast

Attempted Bloggery's Disappointing Index

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

E. Simms Campbell in Black and White: Esquire Cartoons from 1935

African-American cartoonist E. Simms Campbell created as many as four full page black and white cartoons in each issue of Esquire aside from his well-known color work. His specialty was beautiful women, but he was a skilled draftsman who took on a variety of subjects. A selection of cartoons on Amazon from issues of the magazine published in 1935 show his versatility.

The year starts off in January with a sugar daddy cartoon:
E. Simms Campbell
"Why, you darling!  I can take this back and exchange it for just what I want!"
Esquire, January 1935, page 121


How often does one see an African tribe cartoon drawn by an African-American cartoonist? 
E. Simms Campbell
"He's been that way ever since he went to Oxford[.]"
Esquire, February 1935, page 105

The worldly bellboy announces the play-by-play.
E. Simms Campbell
"Why, th' big dummy——th' big greenhorn!"
Esquire, January 1935, page 147


You just can't please some people.
E. Simms Campbell
"—and tell 'em this last brandy was lousy[.]"
Esquire, February 1935, page 97

What a wardrobe malfunction looked like in 1935:
E. Simms Campbell
"Well, you aren't saying anything——tell me what you think of it[.]"
Esquire, February 1935, page 161

Uh-huh.
E. Simms Campbell
"Thank God I'm a bachelor[.]"
Esquire, March 1935, page 31



How to throw a doctor off his game:
E. Simms Campbell
"Just be calm, Mrs. Marsden—I'll be with you just as soon as I answer the phone[.]"
Esquire, March 1935, page 87
The old drunk-at-a-costume-party routine:
E. Simms Campbell
"Y' jush been standin' there all evening—why'ncha grab a girl an' dance?"
Esquire, March 1935, page 111

How uncomfortable!
E. Simms Campbell
The Tight Shoe
Esquire, March 1935, page 127






Making fun of the large woman with a taste for the petite:
E. Simms Campbell
"My deah boy—these simply tear me to pieces!"
Esquire, April 1935, page 75


Here's Esquire's little insight into how to drive your bartender crazy:
E. Simms Campbell
"She ordered it because it had a cute name[.]"
Esquire, April 1935, page 107




It's no funnier in the Arctic:
E. Simms Campbell
"Pre-shrunk—bah! I told you to get it half a size larger[.]"
Esquire, April 1935, page 127



Military discipline isn't what it used to be, if it ever was...
E. Simms Campbell
"Sorry Sir—but I never wear a hat."
Esquire, May 1935, page 115







The going rate:
E. Simms Campbell
"You're giving up a family—but I'm giving up twenty-eight fifty—every week!"
Esquire, July 1935, page 75


Showing a little too much initiative:
E. Simms Campbell
"Young man—if you work any more around here after hours—you're fired!"
Esquire, July 1935, page 115







Radio days:
E. Simms Campbell
"—we're going off the air, folks, but remember—send the cardboard wrappers to the Titsa Bitsa Biscuit Company[.]"
Esquire, August 1935, page 121



I feel the same way about my smart phone:
E. Simms Campbell
"We got to go back to the village again—he's forgotten his wrist watch[.]"
Esquire, August 1935, page 127










Onward and upward:
E. Simms Campbell
"Glad to know you—each year we get a higher type of man up here[.]"
Esquire, September 1935, page 149





Prosperity is just around the corner...
E. Simms Campbell
"Marie—get me that 1928 list of telephone numbers!"
Esquire, September 1935, page 83

A new relic:
E. Simms Campbell
"It's a bar bill—from the Explorers' Club[.]"
Esquire, September 1935, page 121

Sensitive ears:
E. Simms Campbell
". . . so I said, O. K. Toots—get out and walk then[.]"
Esquire, October 1935, page 23

A witty retort from 1935. But what on earth is she doing?
E. Simms Campbell
"Madam, are you in quest of a kick in the pants?"
Esquire, 1935, page 24B

Ah, Romance!
E. Simms Campbell
"My husband, poor dear—he's working late again[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 54

Put a helpless husband in the kitchen and you have an instant gag:
E. Simms Campbell
"Yes, dear, I know how buyers are—but you will be home this evening?"
Esquire, 1935


To the Esquire reader, a hazard of working late at the office is receiving a proposition from the cleaning staff. Presenting the woman as lower class and promiscuous is one thing, but her being overweight is supposed to be the joke. Why? Is this an "If only it were someone else" moment? And since when does Psst take an apostrophe?
E. Simms Campbell
"P'sst[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 112



People in all climates just want what they can't have:
E. Simms Campbell
"But honey—I can't afford no cloth coat this year!"
Esquire, 1935, page 42

It's hard to believe that this sort of joke is still at the forefront of American humor in 1935.
E. Simms Campbell
"All right then, Mr. Frisbee—we won't insist on the castor oil[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 98

Like father...
E. Simms Campbell
"His sister's fer puttin' him in a reform school but I wants him to be near his old man[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 42


Be careful what trophy you go after. Why on earth is Zebra capitalized?
E. Simms Campbell
"The Zebra head would look much better over the mantel, dear[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 80

Those oh-so-amusing drunkards...
E. Simms Campbell
"Wait—wait—le'mme tell you 'bout my trouble!"
Esquire, 1935, page 42


Never waste a good line.
E. Simms Campbell
"Aw honey, gee whiz—yuh may never see me again[.]"
Esquire, 1935, page 68

Not bad, but Harvard grads might want to skip this one:
E. Simms Campbell
"All they keep sending, sir, is Yale 6, Harvard 0—Yale 6, Harvard 0—"
Esquire, 1935, page 68

In our February 23 post, we saw a color cartoon by E. Simms Campbell about the Dionne quintuplets from the January 1936 issue. The quintuplets remained a big story for a long time.
E. Simms Campbell
"What are you thinking of, my love?"  "Mrs. Dionne!"
Esquire, 1935, page 48
Note:  At press time, all of these cartoons are available for purchase on Amazon except for "Thank God I'm a bachelor." You just weren't quick enough for that one. Follow the aqua link below each image.

 Psst! Attempted Bloggery is going to continue looking at the work of cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Readers can help in this noble cause by providing high-resolution scans or photographs of original Campbell art or of obscure published works like these.

The Esquire cartoons in the latter part of this post have years and page numbers, but no month. Can anyone rid me of this affliction?

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