Giving Thanks 2023

Thank You, no. 63/200
Roz Chast

Roz Chast's signature and the limitation

Throughout these dozen years or so of attempted blogging, I have benefited from the support of a bevy of generous contributors, advisors, and occasional nitpickers. I owe a great debt to each of the individuals listed below for offering much-appreciated help and inspiration to me over these past twelve months. To any others I may have neglected to include this go round, please accept my thanks despite my inexcusable laxity. 

Tom Bloom

Scott Burns

Vincent Coca

David from Manhattan

Linda H. Davis

Claude Haber

Joel Jacobus

Stephen Kroninger

Beth Lawler

Michael Maslin

Paul Nesja

Ben Roth

Steve Stoliar

Uki

Roz Chast
eBay listing accessed November 23, 2023
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155283797672?_trksid=p1.c101732.m5053&_trkparms=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F155283797672%3F_trkparms%3Damclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20230719113457%26meid%3Dd745b3e5febc4a91a25724ec1a71cbd8%26pid%3D101732%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26b%3D1%26sd%3D166400801

410%26itm%3D155283797672%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D1%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebWithV11WebTrimmedV3VisualRankerWithKnnV3AndUltBRecall&_trksid=p1.c101732.m5053&mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m5053.l9429&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=1c98a06b5d6742969972ed34cc093a10&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20231028013642&segname=11021

Roz Chast
eBay item description

Note:  The limited edition Thank You print by Roz Chast is new to me. Is it recent? I'm curious as to which Bloomsbury Press title this print is associated with.

04511

Sempé Books at Drouot

On Wednesday, a generous selection of cartoon books with original, personalized drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempé was sold at Drouot, Paris. A few of the sketches may have been separated from their books, or perhaps they were never a part of any books at all. The prices realized are available to subscribers only, but I did at least manage to capture a record of the presale estimates.

Note:  My thanks to Claude Haber for informing me of this auction. This is his fifth contribution to the blog. See, that's all it takes.

I would appreciate hearing from "subscribers" who can access the prices realized for this Drouot sale.

04478

Giving Thanks 2020

Charles E. Martin
The New Yorker, November 26, 1966

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1966-11-26/flipbook/CV1/

I want to use today to thank those generous individuals who have contributed to this blog over the past year. It's been a difficult year for all of us, but this blogging pursuit has been blessed with more support than ever in 2020. Frankly, the number and quality of the submissions has quite often taken my breath away. Friends, I thank each and every one of you:

Tom Bloom

Dick Buchanan

Scott Burns

John Colquhoun

David from Manhattan

Frank Ferrante

A Friend of the Blog

Sarah Getz

Claude Haber

Joel Jacobus

Stephen Kroninger

Joe Petro III

Steve Stoliar

Jerome Wrinkle

Labels linking to posts made possible by each of these contributors may be found below, with the exception of A Friend of the Blog, who causes me to exceed my 200-character limit on labels. A link instead is provided here.

My thanks also to those family members and friends who have helped me out in a great variety of ways, usually anonymously. You know who you are. I also wish to thank my family for putting up with this whole outlandish pursuit of mine.

03454

Virgil Partch: "Guess Who!"

Claude Haber writes with a photo of an original drawing by Virgil Partch, or Vip. He believes it was drawn for someone in the movie industry.

"Guess who!"
Virgil Partch

Photo by Clause Haber

It is an extremely close variant of a gag cartoon that was probably published in True and collected in The Wild, Wild Women (1952). The two drawings are quite similar but there are discernible differences in the woman's hair, the angle of her neck, the man's stocking feet, and the hand-written caption. Claude's drawing may in fact be a redraw.

"Guess who"
Virgil Partch
The Wild, Wild Women (1952)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/243757398552477965/?fbclid=IwAR1HVPQxGcBdQLa2j4x1xS5sILB3s8Jq1ljQPLOaLx4uwl4U16Ro8GbaSKE

Note:  First off, I would love to see the page in True where this drawing very likely first appeared.

Second, submissions to the blog of images from Vip books and original drawings have been pouring in since July. Apparently many of my readers have been collecting Partch originals for years. By all means, let's keep it going. By now you know where to find me.

My thanks to Claude Haber.

03441

Threesome: Allen's Copy of The Wild, Wild Women by Virgil Partch

Claude Haber writes with a photograph of a personalized copy of The Wild, Wild Women (1952) by Virgil Partch, a.k.a. Vip. The book is dedicated to a fan named Allen. It features an original gag cartoon of a man trying to express his appreciation of a well-endowed woman:

"To Allen                          
'You've...you've got that
added little something that
the other girls don't have'
                                    Vip"

Interestingly, Christopher Wheeler's website includes recipient Herb's copy of Man the Beast (1953), also by Vip. This book has a very similar drawing, both compositionally and anatomically, but here the couple is depicted in swimwear. The caption is also similar, even retaining that hesitant repetition of the first word.

"To Herb,                       
'You've...you've just
got that added little
something'
                      Vip"

https://pbase.com/csw62/image/77725923

So, while Vip was generally wildly original in his dedicated book drawings, it is not implausible that he had a few recurring gags at the ready for book signings and such. Would he have given such a drawing to a female fan? It seems doubtful, but it's hard to rule out anything with this cartoonist.

Note:  My thanks to Claude Haber for this exclusive look at his copy of Virgil Partch's book. This is Claude's second contribution to Attempted Bloggery. 

Christopher Wheeler's entire Vip gallery may be seen here. You're welcome.

Am I still looking for books with original drawings by Virgil Partch to post here on the old blog? Why, yes, thank you, I am.

03433

From the Library of Jean-Jacques Sempé

I just love cartoons about books, reading, and libraries.  Especially libraries, both the public and private-home variety!


Today in fact begins National Library Week. In honor of this special occasion, I have selected a drawing by the prodigiously-talented Jean-Jacques Sempé, whom I gather also loves libraries, books, and reading, as well as cats and crowds and Paris. With the help of superb artists like Sempé, I'll bet I can keep this up all week!

http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2012/02/12821/paris-elsewhere/

April 10, 2012 Update:  Claude Haber sends along this photo of the original Sempé drawing. He took it in January of 2012 at the exhibition Sempé, un peu de Paris et d’ailleurs, at L’Hôtel de Ville. This was the very first Sempé retrospective held in Paris and--sorry!-- it just ended on March 31.  As you can see, the image I have above shows only the central area of a much larger work. This photo gives a good idea of the scale of the original drawing. Just look at how the viewer is pulled into it!

Exhibition Photo by Claude Haber

Below, here is the image I should have gone with from the beginning if I had done my homework or, given what week this is, consulted a proper librarian:

Jean-Jacques Sempé, Le chat dans la grande bibliothèque

http://www.soohcliche.com/2010/07/une-idee-de-bonheur-par-jour.html

Claude Haber, bless him, also provides the screen shot below of the auction result for this piece. He seems to understand this blog post's needs better than I do! Anyway, it's a bit humbling when you find a lovely drawing, decide to post it on your blog, and then find out it already sold for more than ten times its estimate. In other words, someone else thinks it's pretty awesome too!

Drouot Richelieu, Salle 7, Design: Des années 1960 aux années 2000, Paris, Wednesday, April 01, 2009

http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--sempe-jean-jacques-1932-france-le-chat-dans-la-grande-bibliot-2315307.htm

Note:  Yes, I've written about Jean-Jacques Sempé before. How could I not? You can check out my blog post here but don't expect to see any more library books or cute cats.

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