Ronald Searle: Co-Operation in a University Town

Co-Operation in a University Town by W. Henry Brown is a 1939 book subtitled "With the Seventy Years' Record of the Cambridge & District Co-Operative Society, Limited." It is a volume that I, for one, have no desire to read, but its claim to fame is that it is the first book to be illustrated by Ronald Searle, then 19 and unknown except to readers of the Cambridge Daily News. After World War II, Searle would emerge as an illustrator of singular importance, but there's little in this history that would have allowed readers interested in the Cambridge Co-Operative Society to foretell that.

The eBay seller of this book last month was evidently unaware of its special significance in the history of illustration and let it go for a song.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended August 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296648319344?_nkw=Co-Operation+in+a+University+TOwn&itmmeta=01J635EKF5TB5HE43MB3M3FSQC&hash=item45119e2170:g:nFgAAOSwGZBmtjIj&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmTg7F9JjRFopqm100riI9JTcjiLj158naowMqYjPPTbmaFOczYEO7LcTgy5GyOBadq2e2o69dfUeSRKisuB

4Jqf9hBWpDFcXNnsTcv%2BamoDFOWlbxqRs8zehAQ3nSSFmPk%2BPdlZ4mnvTILtFIFqvIN7VSc5Ax%2BYuJ%2B9N98GS5MHDkaTtKUc8OhT5FxVlCBxKK9a708kLKYM1RPak340h3CQPNFrhrQHQma%2BT2PJV%2FeN%2BbmWuLS5EE1ukPlW7LZGWuJ9Ab6512PjY8bgCOaUZ3A%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8y3uuWwZA

Another copy is more typical of how booksellers treat this rarity, pricewise, but it does include the dust cover with its Searle illustration:

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Ronald Searle: A 1936 Autograph Page

Ronald Searle's 1936 drawing from an autograph album that belonged to one Patricia M. Frost of Cambridge is not by a long shot "possibly the earliest work known by him," as claimed by Rainford & Parris Books of Bishop's Stortford, but still it may be the earliest drawing that an interested collector can expect to come across. By August of 1936, the sixteen year old's cartoons had been appearing weekly in the Cambridge Daily News since the previous year and it's stunning that he was well known enough locally to be sought after for the autograph at all. Searle's signature from this period has the middle initials W. F., for William Fordham. The accompanying cartoon reportedly represents a teacher, but more likely it is a graduating student, cigar and all. The cartoon looks reasonably accomplished for its day, but it doesn't in any way foretell the illustrator's future greatness.

Ronald Searle
AbeBooks listing accessed June 6, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31524317550&searchurl=kn%3DRonald%2BSearle%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-title25

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Ronald Searle and Cambridge: The Catalogue

The exhibition "Ronald Searle and Cambridge" appeared at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge between October 2015 and January 2016. Ronald Searle (1920-2011), a native of Cambridge, received his art training at what is now Anglia Ruskin University. His children donated original illustrations to the museum in 2014. The catalogue is a good one to have, as it illustrates in color a number of works by Searle that are not available in print anywhere else.

Ronald Searle
eBay Listing Retrieved December 15, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362850957716?ul_noapp=true

Note:  Storyboard artist and Searle specialist Matt Jones writes Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog. His 2015 post on "Searle and Cambridge" also includes information about Searle from the BBC's "The Great Antiques Map of Britain" when the show visited Cambridge.

This year is Ronald Searle's centenary.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

Attempted Bloggery's Fishy Index

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The New Yorker Signed by John McPhee

Remember that game of basketball played at the Tower of London? John McPhee's article "Basketball and Beefeaters" was published in the March 16, 1963 issue of the New Yorker. Here from eBay is a copy of the magazine with the author's signature.

John McPhee's signature

Ilonka Karasz, The New Yorker, March 16, 1963

The New Yorker, March 16, 1963
"Basketball and Beefeaters" signed by John McPhee

The New Yorker, March 16, 1963
"Basketball and Beefeaters" by John McPhee

EBay Listing Ended July 9, 2015

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-McPHEE-SIGNED-1963-THE-NEW-YORKER-Magazine-Article-autograph-rare-/361334147406?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item542131894e&nma=true&si=Zv4PhLp6HocGRC23iqci2JeQ2LI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

EBay Item Description

EBay Bid History. Just one early bid.

Note:  See more signed magazines in the archives.

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