William Steig: Coming Home Late

It's late at night in Apartment 3K. Seventy years ago, the readers of Collier's were treated to a wonderful cartoon by a wonderful cartoonist: William Steig.

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

Evidently rejected by The New Yorker which would have had first crack at it, the drawing presents us with a couple uniquely suited to each other.

William Steig
Framed, orignal art

Collier's, May 11, 1956

The framed original art was listed some two months ago by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Philadelphia and it remains available at the time of this posting. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed July 21, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Original-gag-cartoon-Colliers-magazine-Steig/32452863076/bd

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The published cartoon is in Dick Buchanan's clip files and appeared on the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons. 

William Steig
Collier's, May 11, 1956

https://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2018/01/from-dick-buchanan-files-william-steig.html

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

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Maeve Brennan: The Long-Winded Lady

From Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn comes a beautiful copy of The Long-Winded Lady: Notes from The New Yorker by Maeve Brennan. The 1969 book collects "Talk of the Town" pieces the magazine published in the 1950s and 1960s. The volume is described as "a near-fine copy of a surprisingly scarce first edition" and is priced at $250.

Maeve Brennan
Honey & Wax Booksellers listing accessed October 20, 2024

https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/pages/books/1003495/maeve-brennan/the-long-winded-lady-notes-from-the-new-yorker

Note:  Who illustrated this cover?

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Robert Andrew Parker: Walt Whitman's Brooklyn Printshop

An original illustration by Robert Andrew Parker shows Walt Whitman's printshop at 99 Ryerson Street in Brooklyn where Leaves of Grass (1855) was completed. The watercolor was created for The New Yorker, but not published. In 2010, the art was sold by Antiquarian Auctions.

https://antiquarianauctions.com/lots/original-artwork-for-a-re-imagined-portrait-of-99-ryerson-st-the-house-where-whitman-wrote-at-least-part-of-leaves-of-grass

Then in 2020, it was offered for sale by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn:

Robert Andrew Parker
AbeBooks Listing Retrieved April 5, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/Original-watercolor-depicting-Walt-Whitmans-Brooklyn/30607251936/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore

The New Yorker apparently declined to publish Parker's illustration, electing instead to publish a  pair of historic photos in the issue of June 12, 1995. Upon examination of the photo of 99 Ryerson, a problem with the watercolor illustration is immediately apparent: Parker has omitted the distinctive elevated profile of the building's center section. The poet Marianne Moore wrote, “Robert Andrew Parker is one of the most accurate and at the same time most unliteral of painters." In my opinion, and perhaps The New Yorker's, the most prominent architectural feature should not be rendered "unliterally."

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-06-12/flipbook/098/

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Park Avenue Plantings: Anatol Kovarsky Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Anotol Kovarsky's elevated view looking south on Park Avenue shows the spring plantings on the median surrounded by pedestrian and automotive traffic. The design was proposed as a New Yorker cover circa 1960 but, for whatever reason, not accepted by the magazine. The original art is currently offered for sale by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn for $3,600.

Rough sketch on verso

Anatol Kovarsky
Honey & Wax Booksellers listing accessed June 1, 2023

https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/pages/books/1003406/anatol-kovarsky/park-avenue

June 29, 2023 Update:  Sold (on or before June 20)!

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The Third Avenue El: Anatol Kovarsky Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Service on the IRT Third Avenue Elevated line was cut back  starting in 1950 and the Manhattan tracks were demolished by 1955. Anatol Kovarsky's vibrant cover proposal for The New Yorker shows the El where it passes over a crosstown street, possibly 23rd Street. The view is facing west after dark. Below the El, the image includes the city's bustle, the traffic, and the illuminated signs. The skyscrapers above the El stand majestically over the chaos. One can only speculate as to why the magazine wasn't interested. Perhaps, in 1950 or so when everyone knew the elevated tracks were slated for demolition, the editors wanted their cover art to be more forward-looking. The original art is available from Honey & Wax Booksellers priced at $3,600.

Detail of the Third Avenue El

Detail with the No. 15 bus heading east

Anatol Kovarsky
Honey & Wax Booksellers listing accessed May 31, 2023

https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/pages/books/1003385/anatol-kovarsky/elevated-subway-train-at-night

June 29, 2023 Update:  Sold (on or before June 20)!

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Notre-Dame de Paris with Tourists: Anatol Kovarsky Preliminary New Yorker Cover Art

Anatol Kovarsky's cover study for The New Yorker issue of August 17, 1966 was created in New York. It depicts the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris from a high angle while the finished cover art showed a different top-down view. The original art for the study is available from Honey & Wax Booksellers while the published cover art, we learn, resides in the Morgan Library.

Anatol Kovarsky
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, August 17, 1966

Detail of buses

Detail with gargoyles

Detail of facade

Anatol Kovarsky
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, August 17, 1966

Anatol Kovarsky's signature

Anatol Kovarsky
Honey & Wax Booksellers listing accessed May 29, 2023

https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/pages/books/1003384/anatol-kovarsky/notre-dame-with-tourists

Anatol Kovarsky
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, August 17, 1966

Anatol Kovarsky
The New Yorker, August 17, 1966

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1966-08-13/flipbook/CV1/

The Morgan Library has not posted an online image of the original art and their issue date is off by a few days. "Title supplied by cataloger."

Anatol Kovarsky
The Morgan Library & Museum catalogue listing accessed May 31, 2023

https://www.themorgan.org/literary-historical/282674

June 29, 2023 Update:  Sold (on or before June 20)!

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Anatol Kovarsky: Blind Justice?

Honey & Wax Booksellers of Brooklyn offers a splendid original New Yorker cartoon by Anatol Kovarsky. Impartial Justice is depicted holding her scales and blindfolded, mostly. No caption is needed. Most of the drawing is very precisely rendered; only in the lower part does Kovarsky permit himself some looseness.

Anatol Kovarsky Honey & Wax Booksellers listing accessed April 12, 2023 https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/pages/books/1003409/anatol-kovarsky/blindfolded-justice-peeking

Anatol Kovarsky The New Yorker, January 21, 1956, p. 30

Anatol Kovarsky Original art The New Yorker, January 21, 1956, p. 30

Cartoons by Anatol Kovarsky and Mischa Richter https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1956-01-21/flipbook/030/

Which cartoon aged better? I don't think there's any contest.

"Where he wants moss green, she wants Sahara beige. Where he wants coral pink, she wants powder blue. Where he wants Stygian black, she wants butter yellow." Mischa Richter The New Yorker, January 21, 1956, p. 31

June 29, 2023 Update:  Sold (on or before June 20)!

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