A Soft and Mushy Letter From Sam Gross

An autograph letter from cartoonist Sam Gross to a Mr. Wright is dated July 11, 1980, and is a reply to a fan letter from June 30. This is the unexpected highlight of an eBay listing for a copy of An Elephant is Soft and Mushy: More Cartoons by Sam Gross (1980).  It is everything a letter from a cartoonist should be: articulate, funny, and legible.

The full eBay listing follows, but don't try to buy the book and the letter yourself. A certain blogger just may have beaten you to it.

Title page

Just look at all the publications in which Gross published cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s:

Sam Gross
eBay listing accessed September 19, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135771333651?_skw=an+elephant+is+soft+and+mushy&itmmeta=01K5J5NDRS38AHGK0YPYQ66GF8&hash=item1f9c9a2413:g:vdoAAeSwW51oG75d&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABAFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1csc%2BIMEYVD8GoKo0ZRISuwZe0BxpMdH7YftA%2BbQPYt40Yh%2Fe5hN9K5DiGaE1gYCrZNO2jr%2Bk5fkQd%2BrgI%2BYtc61NNbUa8QXjJ

35fLoLIb9h1E0FxTgr4437nQWXqVGRT5grT5aMJuReh%2BjdobS2LgTv%2B6xz%2Fa2KvsJDa2KDrc4x%2BMdxhEx%2BFiJKlRfmI4HlYERtWl%2FfV1W3CPMjlitO0yFj4Jan3p4z1t2kj%2FsTLbE%2FQKhpuA%2BzQ%2FURdTts8Td42QbARrMaFkFVCFv3SK1sH1h5O5l35PBIU0cRAhWTP0z2epLy6DCCa9J3j87tU3wwRk%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8Tc1cWsZg

Sam Gross
eBay item description

Note:  Sam Gross was an interesting guy. This blog thrives on posting original art, personalized books, and correspondence by such interesting guys. You know what to do.

05069

A Letter from Gluyas Williams to Tom Sanders

In 1932, a fan named Tom Sanders, interested, apparently, in becoming a cartoonist, requested an autograph from Gluyas Williams, one of the most technically skilled artists working for Harold Ross's New Yorker. Williams responded to the request with an ALS written on his Boston stationery. It was sold in September on eBay.

For what it's worth, numerous closeups of handwritten letters don't really help:

And the verso:

Gluyas Williams
eBay listing ended September 13, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166926813309?_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01JEMDPB7E7H24N1XTSME6NSDQ&hash=item26dd9d087d:g:x8UAAOSw9ptmw1oh&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmjdcZXuAzwldE

J0RNEU8E3bRVz7eS7mW8oJNReIWcUuw64kQM%2BP0%2FAw0l2Zz3U3mc0s0TKG786m18C%2FZkiQgHH1zj%2F51g3zABJbN67liyQSiqLPj6GtR8G6Xge%2FvxSglNvJLF3D0TbheCmalpvPOIDQCe5yszhdKslrtR%2B2SJiA

9lZXOem4nS0hFlZGXTHdTVpMWkv%2B1rswOIu5XW8F%2FIt1U0TBjd7y8Uimn2cMwkCm1lEN5myMpsEj0BRZ18zhZuUeefA9rhN4YhTLrZ7PA6aqA9U6zgUt5q%2Ff2Aaf2Q5%2BA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_Kz2Y31ZA

Note:  If this letter looks familiar, that may be because it was featured on Ink Spill's post of September 17, 2024, complete with transcription and a better photo: https://michaelmaslin.com/tuesday-spill-an-art-spiegelman-documentary-gluyas-williams-on-being-a-cartoonist-its-lots-of-fun-at-times/

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Peter Sellers to Harvey Orkin's Son Anthony

Writer and talent agent Harvey Orkin (1918-1975) represented actor Peter Sellers (1925-1980). Two signed pieces from the actor to Orkin's son Anthony have recently come to the market from Downtown Brown Books of Portland, Oregon. One handwritten note on a Gucci card reads "From the desk of Peter (Pete) Sellers with Compliments." The second note, on Regency Hotel stationery, is more personal. Addressed to Anthony, it dates from the time period after "The Return of the Pink Panther" was shot but before its 1975 release.

Peter Sellers
AbeBooks listing accessed September 8, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31967335852&searchurl=ds%3D30%26kn%3DOrkin%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D17%26vci%3D50957077&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp0-_-title5

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Art Spiegelman: Looking for Work

Since the passing of underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson (1941-2021), we are beginning to see some of his papers come to the market. A 1981 letter sent to him from Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, then the coeditors of Raw, is now offered by Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc., of Gloucester City. Composed in a breezy style to "Wiltz," it is handwritten and illustrated by Spiegelman and signed by both husband and wife. Wilson previously had contributed to Arcade, which Spiegelman edited with Bill Griffith. By the summer of 1981, Spiegelman and Mouly had completed Raw #3 and were headed to Europe. With the submission deadline for Raw #4 coming up soon upon their return, they ask Wilson "If you wanna show us stuff that might be appropriate..."—perhaps a loaded word, in Wilson's case. As it happened, none of his work was to appear in Raw.

Art Spiegelman
AbeBooks listing accessed June 11, 2022
Note: "Rawz" should be "Raw 3," making the correct year for the undated letter 1981, not 1982

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=459305184&searchurl=kn%3DR%2Bcrumb%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image30

03984

Arnold Rosenberg's Copy of Ronald Searle's The Curse of St. Trinian's

Photographer Arnold T. Rosenberg (1931-2017) produced much fine work, most famously his 1958 portrait of Marcel Duchamp playing chess on a glass table. A print in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian was donated by Rosenberg and his wife Rochelle:

Arnold T. Rosenberg
Marcel Duchamp

https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2009.93

Many years after destroying his most popular creation, cartoonist Ronald Searle (1920-2011) revisited his wicked St. Trinian's school with a new collection called The Curse of St. Trinian's (1993). Rosenberg's copy was dedicated to him by Searle in May of 1993 with a full-page sketch of a leggy St. Trinian's schoolgirl. Searle writes almost apologetically, "This is the best I can do. I haven't drawn St. Trinian's in 30 years or more." It's a nice conceit belied by the book's brand new St. Trinian's artwork on the cover, and indeed Searle had other occasions to redraw his abandoned schoolgirls from time to time. Rosenberg and his wife lived in East Hampton on Long Island. His copy of the book was sold on eBay by a Sag Harbor dealer in December of 2013 about two years after Searle's death.

"For Arnold
Rosenberg
with best wishes.
In [?] of 1959
from
Ronald Searle
May 1993
                 /"

"10 May 1993

Dear Arnold Rosenberg—

     Sorry this has been so long in coming

but I was waiting for the book to appear—

which it did, the other day.

     This is the best I can do. I haven't

drawn St. Trinian's in 30 years or more.

     Hope you have dried out now.

All good wishes
            Ronald Searle
                                         /"

Ronald Searle
eBay Listing Ended December 9, 2013

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=151184513310&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:3160

Ronald Searle
eBay Item Description

Note:  Ronald Searle was born ninety-nine years ago today on March 3, 1920. Mathematically-inclined readers will recognize that there is only one year remaining until his centennial. To celebrate, Attempted Bloggery asks fans to send brilliant images of Searle sketches, correspondence, and original art. The clock is ticking…


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

Books with Original Sketches

Attempted Bloggery's Wicked Index

02852

In Pursuit of Charles Addams

After American Frank Shorter won the men's marathon in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, jogging became suddenly popular in America. Cartoonist Charles Addams naturally had his own take on this running boom. An autograph letter by Addams is coming up for sale next week in the Swann Galleries Autographs sale. He's personally responding to a query from one Mr. Bernstein who is looking to acquire a running-themed drawing from the previous issue of the New Yorker. "Can you be a jogger?" is a pretty specific clue here that Mr. Bernstein must be looking for the Addams cartoon published in the March 22, 1976 issue. This would date the Addams letter to the last week of March 1976. The original cartoon art was not available as it was being held for an exhibition at the Nicholls Gallery in November. Was Mr. Bernstein ultimately successful in his pursuit of this Charles Addams original?

Charles Addams
ALS, c. late March 1976

Charles Addams
Swann Galleries
Sale 2492 Autographs
Lot 364
November 8, 2018

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2492+++++364+&refno=++748193&saletype=

Charles Addams
The New Yorker, March 22, 1976, page 26

Cartoons by Charles Addams and Stan Hunt

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1976-03-22#folio=026

Goings On About Town
The New Yorker, November 8, 1976, page 8

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1976-11-08#folio=008

November 8, 2018 Update:  Sold!

Hammer Price $80

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who knows the whereabout of the original Charles Addams jogger cartoon.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Charles Addams

Jogging

Autograph Letters, Signed

Nicholls Gallery

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

Attempted Bloggery's Runaway Index

02725