Bill Bush's Copy of The Dedini Gallery

A copy of The Dedini Gallery, Eldon Dedini's 1961 cartoon collection, is signed and inscribed, "Greetings, Bill!" by the artist. This Bill, we are told, is Houston-area comics collector William "Bill" Bush, Jr., who passed away in 2013. We were also told that he had been working on a history of early comic artists, one I don't think was completed or published. The Dedini book was discounted 25% by Texas-based eBay seller Space Cadets Collection for this weekend only and was sold thus.

Eldon Dedini
eBay listing accessed November 28, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304846112625?_skw=

Eldon Dedini
eBay item description

Sold!

05141

Bob Hemminger's Copy of Let's Boogie! by James Stevenson

For those keeping score, this is the second copy we have seen on this blog of the cartoon collection Let's Boogie! (1978) by James Stevenson personalized by the artist for a single person, Bob Hemminger, with an included sketch. This one from Space Cadets Collection reportedly comes out of the estate of comics historian Bill Bush, as did the Charles Saxon book in yesterday's post also made out to Hemminger. We have also seen a book from Edward Koren dedicated to the same individual with a superb drawing. It's possible, then, that Hemminger collected these by mail, sending a book (or two?) and requesting a signature and drawing from the artist, but there are other possibilities. Brilliant. 

Space Cadets, I may have mentioned yesterday, is selling much or all of its inventory for 25% off this weekend only. So while this very loose self-portrait may not be the best Stevenson drawing I've seen in one of his books, the price is right.

James Stevenson
eBay listing accessed November 28, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304950122737?itmmeta=01KB33A6Q44BNWMN4KCJD31CK7&hash=item47007198f1:g:v8QAAOSw6oJkUcpI

James Stevenson
eBay item description

05140

Bob Hemminger's Copy of One Man's Fancy by Charles Saxon

Online discounts tend to get serious on Thanksgiving Day weekend as sellers try to move as much inventory as they can before Christmas. Something similar happens in stores with Black Friday deals. And this year both consumers and retailers have increased cause for anxiety about the uncertain economy.

Behold then a signed copy of Charles Saxon's 1977 cartoon collection One Man's Fancy, which I've been following with interest for more than a year, suddenly reduced in price from $75 to $56.25, a 25% discount—though perhaps it was priced just a little lower one year ago. The seller, Space Cadets Collection, lowered the cost of many if not all of its listings on the auction site eBay.

The book's front cover illustrates idyllic behavior in business attire; the back cover does the same but without the attire.

This copy is dedicated to one Bob Hemminger by the artist. Saxon didn't typically add drawings to his inscriptions, but he did here.

The copyright page demonstrates how important The New Yorker is to the artist's oeuvre.

Here's the listing as it stood on Thanksgiving Day:

Charles Saxon
eBay listing accessed November 27, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304846112624?_skw=yorker&itmmeta=01KB30REVFMCB5HPWJCRY2V0AD&hash=item46fa3e8770:g:I9sAAOSwamVkBrdS

Charles Saxon
eBay item description

Did I mention that after a year of eying this one from afar, I went and took the bait?

05139

Bill Hand's Copy of Brother Sebastian At Large by Chon Day

Brother Sebastian At Large (1961) is the third and final book collecting Chon Day's Brother Sebastian cartoons. The panels originally ran in Look magazine between 1954 and 1971.

Front Cover

Back Cover

A copy inscribed to one Bill Hand is embellished with a drawing of the monk holding up a model sailing ship. Hand's hobby may have been sailing—or model shipbuilding?


The bookplate indicates the library of another Hand:

Title page

Chon Day
eBay listing accessed September 10, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304832913498?_skw=signed+chon+day&itmmeta=01K4TWS2Z0TFYGTTX89C84EDXD&hash=item46f975205a:g:0QcAAOSwgFZkCgLr&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eiBT5YS9uwIxLaE%2FbkfFN3%2Fti%2BE56mP2MsXZUo8zRDTBihdvcCrF1sjM1%2FoUcSNM3ruIHf3a1WfP9Ug5KsvAh%2B

BxI1E4c713YbSgDzSSULqwtFrODD8iqDJ89S2mPozKooA4wSc0qYA0u%2BNSmUmhW6SmnOJOkasfWfdj7tcrQAgOiCOjv%2BVNdpPmkO1hm7WrXm8c9OK8TeAmGGfTVrfCE31Bjyn2aNnzBk3BYmS1yrlki6jaX3a9MFW8nLX7TzMOASFfYddGec%2BXL2lSUvoh5zZrjoD1MYrt0Jwmv0OVdpdg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR86v5NymZg&pfm=1

Chon Day

eBay item description

05061

Lawrence Richter Quinn's Copy of The Office Party by Corey Ford and Whitney Darrow, Jr.

A copy of Corey Ford's The Office Party (1951) sold this past October by Space Cadets of Conroe, Texas, once belonged to financial writer Lawrence Richter Quinn. It was personalized for him by the book's illustrator, New Yorker cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr., in 1987, thirty-six years after publication. Later the book became the property of comics historian Bill Bush.

While the world of acceptable office humor in The New Yorker had changed greatly over those intervening years, one might not surmise that change from Darrow's lively drawing of a curvaceous blond secretary shown from behind. She wears a revealing party dress and sits at a manual typewriter.

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay listing ended October 22, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304950140054?_skw=Whitney+Darrow+signed&itmmeta=01JDKA6GBSHFND4PTWNJ1M10AK&hash=item470071dc96:g:uR0AAOSwSrhkUcDH&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnC%2B5C3Dm2BlAEuKQshT7j8kH5A%2FF0mD2prkTNmgE8apM1X

5kDqYdMJuCQX9bh0jhrD7MMDXsd%2BMmEnUgZtbEnEzdBwusY%2B50KEeT4yvl1skbedROV52EvBBfYaq6PaHfC%2FOWPpzvroHF%2FYHJiCDWKejXEyhZyGodbdIragHrIN7JanSgbW8d4Nx9zYtAjIuGy7uKhTj%2FWS1KGa7Rermsk0EDk%2B8

BvnjFa98sZ0lTyhw0DFXxxk%2FSWx4XGrU%2BY%2F%2B4HneUYn6xqXu23cW1gr6LDs1d7wcdMad8DMYJUfq06FxQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4CGmursZA

04814

Jack's Copy of The Wild, Wild Women by Virgil Partch

Back in 1951, a buck could buy you a nice, if cheaply bound, cartoon book such as The Wild, Wild Women by the similarly wild, wild Virgil Franklin Partch. A copy originally belonging to someone named Jack is sketched with an original self-portrait of the artist and signed Vip, as he commonly abbreviates himself, on the artist's canvas. It is inscribed "To Jack! from the world's oldest cartoonist," a curious thing to write in the year one turns thirty-five. It must have been an inside joke. Jack's book found its way to the collection of cartoon historian Bill Bush and thence from his estate to Space Cadets of Conroe, Texas, which in turn listed it on eBay.

Virgil Partch
eBay listing ended October 22, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354804396174?_skw=Wild+Wild+Women+Virgil+Partch&itmmeta=01JC25TC6GPF6M49GA2ACEFHCD&hash=item529bfd708e:g:BdcAAOSwuEdkUcMS&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABAHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKk97tvMtXnP9gPZKumuv5YL7U6V0V4Yyv%2FQ7t7Cgb3UI6Xw%2FiHgunUJT0qQu61%2FRM3Zq5--gqrhwZm92M%2FLYErOkdMp

sn1B0eBaexzLBKggUzEe%2FR%2F8mjKLkBjLZ2%2BD1qne5kxDr%2B2sGU6R4mLs%2FHUQC%2BqJclqsplMXssClK7tC2YzeE2wx6YAjqXViiOUZ89yjq9OA4%2FbckZpEWGaIXKTt2aAYpQ8VBm%2F9hnIljVWTLKJhKhQTVTek6F0dZB6t%2BQ5sQ0drlHXPGJLnPNto8WSSFb1oTcAH81IucbXsIwBdNuVZmpAwFe4wnUXeBdPtyPg%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6bD6cXgZA

Virgil Partch
eBay item description

04793