John Held, Jr.: Map of New York Night Clubs

In the Prohibition Era, researching John Held, Jr.'s, Map of New York Night Clubs must have been a labor of love. The map, we are told, resulted "from actual survey by and under the direction of Lip Stick." The New Yorker's nightlife reporter Lois Long, who wrote under the name Lipstick, therefore must greatly have assisted Held in this endeavor. She was married to New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno—no stranger himself to the speakeasy scene—from 1927 to 1931, the latter being the year in which this Manhattan map appeared in The Works of John Held, Jr.

https://oldmapgallery.com/products/nyc-ny-john-held-jrs-map-of-new-york-night-clubs

The above image is from the Old Map Gallery, which dates it c. 1930 and does not have a copy for sale. There is a copy on eBay which has been removed from Held's 1931 book.

John Held, Jr.
eBay listing accessed February 16, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296676830498?_skw=john+held+jr+Manhattan&itmmeta=01KHMQAY09T5W3CVTJXMPS0TCM&hash=item4513512d22:g:jAsAAOSwl-Fm2z44&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCbv2SXqTeqY%2Brwr%2FRAZ%2BHsSjtM2RJQ7x6%2F20atiH560vAn5i1SNQq6UJ0fGz8m%2Fh7j%2FQoZAtIOdVFteCzXrCWDiEzloWKCbhvlAy4T0Wme1lQGL2IRG4GUx8ZrbjPCPjLgP6mz4MiUkxXreYOn10BiiVO35fPXxfGuvfQOsz6skglK9GoL02VBj0LAk4OzBlhzvaR252DhBAkywYiLmr08br727w4yVAWJuPnV88VNe5Z84mTENVdGWoIoGe3eEH8%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6jgq5eNZw

John Held, Jr.
eBay item description

05203

Old-Fashioned Christmas Greetings from John Held, Jr.

Many readers back in the 1920s or early '30s were familiar with the Jazz Age illustrations of John Held, Jr. Often they depicted flappers and the men who loved them tearing up the dance floor. Those readers also would have been similarly familiar with Held's woodblock print style, which gently poked fun at the staid ways of their 19th century forebears, that is to say, the previous generations. 

A 1931 page from Liberty magazine, via Rob Stolzer on Comic Art Fans, shows how deftly Held utilized these two very different and very wonderful styles to great effect:

Music Hath Charms
John Held, Jr.
Liberty, October 17, 1931

Scan by Rob Stolzer

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1667682

All of which is meant to serve as a preamble to a vintage Christmas card that turned up on eBay in Held's retro, woodcut style. It is time to gather round the punch bowl, ladies and gentlemen, and to celebrate the season. Let us offer Christmas greetings by raising a glass to all those present, and to that antiquated yet somehow forever-young style of Held's that today recalls our grandparents's grandparents. He frequently signed such art as if it were "engraved," or in this case just "Eng." Cheers!

John Held, Jr.
eBay listing accessed October 25, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/317423754615?_skw=john+held+jr&itmmeta=01K8DZNANNFRWH7QFFXNE3YPGX&hash=item49e7ee1d77:g:LLoAAeSwmENo7-Ry&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8IUNi59bckQcV2ImusJGAkGsA7vEDri1BBGgDcublvwsgqcDIcr3o1%2FlUFSjn0zl5PoF%2FJZMJmQogW2Fo8EuhoQ8l4K%2FNZ%2BtmPkNEhvrBfxsptOO950RB

UcKS%2BDwvKIHbgmChoNYGKZ8jC1n6%2BNu79MDzReMHDzO0rfjJvwOdNQW%2Bf3Si2m2IcbOOCOv19t78QGTD0pQr91E1XmrNZsfZ7Aywbf3jQTp64auKeLRHkhDo%2Bm0OWMyXSESujZMJaTcepkPFdHowqYEo%2BEnax%2FKYecguvccShOfgor3fkuafhbVfuz9Tz3FWEHseBXxEFjcMcA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Kr1b_DZg

John Held, Jr.
eBay item description

The card is as yet unsold, but its price is very slowly coming down.

Note:  My several posts depicting Christmas card art by John Held, Jr., in this "engraved" woodcut style may be seen here.

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Judge: March 19, 1927

An issue of Judge cost 15 cents in 1927, $2.79 in today's dollars. I paid $12.50 for a copy on eBay in August, a five-fold premium for being so far behind in my reading. This is my first purchases of any issue of this particular humor magazine. The March 19 issue looks decidedly hit or miss.

The Latest Dirt

The Weigh of a Woman

Judging the Shows
George Jean Nathan

The Cheer Leaders
John Held, Jr., et al.

The Runarounder
Heywood Broun

Judge, March 19, 1927
eBay listing ended August 31, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/376505113731

Judge, March 19, 1927
eBay item description

Judge, March 19, 1927
eBay bid history
Your blogger shows how it's done.

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Cocktail Napkins by John Held, Jr.

Two vintage cocktail napkins dating, very likely, from the 1920s and designed by John Held, Jr., in his woodcut style, are currently listed on eBay:

John Held, Jr.
eBay listing accessed September 10, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/127038341312?_skw=john+held+jr&itmmeta=01K3J5NYNRT6Q07WZRR0ZK7KCE&hash=item1d941340c0:g:qdcAAeSwep9n1E47&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0IUNi59bckQcV2ImusJGAkFavM%2BnzXkkMwwUDcyIUHH2Z4AbpgHsgCGSArbHjuI%2FNQqLxCuIe8xfAjjXbvhi4sEtTqrthJ0UPBI9GIojYmx82sNGKPwKcxF0wXKyf22zkGcPN5LYcfr7Ux%2BGBDug2nU4DmONOk6Yi5ab4hUcHS8Ib6yytrtYD6Y7uMUQV1yuZO9SR0pH7eXp0%2FOdQLtJW%2FGEt6xn2LJ5JBCKJt9oT0zPJn9c7ec2IzqoDMmtAMqQdsgAEOske0XFLXIZGZmCqG0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Tr18WcZg&pfm=1

John Held, Jr.
eBay item description

More can be found on Etsy. Here are four other designs, plus a "Kiss Me Quick" variant in red:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1896950577/vintage-john-held-jr-linen-cocktail

There's a seventh design, "Oh You Kid" (as in the popular 1909 song "I Love, I Love, I Love My Wife—But Oh! You Kid!") and further color variants of other designs:

https://estatesales.org/online-auctions/linen-cocktail-napkins-by-john-82303773

Cheers!

05060

John Held, Jr.: Gone Fishing

New York's James Cummins, bookseller, offers an original book illustration from Outlines of Sport (1930) by John Held, Jr. Twelve images make up the book, each showing a different sport. The drawing of a man trying to bait his hook is accompanied by a copy of the signed, limited edition of 100.

John Held, Jr.
AbeBooks listing accessed November 11, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=7724806134&searchurl=attrs%3Dsgnd%26ds%3D30%26kn%3DJohn%2BHeld%252C%2BJr.%26rollup%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp0-_-image9

John Held, Jr.
AbeBooks item description

05050

Mr. Selwyn's Copy of The Vegetable by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald may have called The Vegetable "undoubtedly the best thing I have ever written" but, to be honest, I hadn't heard of the 1923 play before seeing a first edition listed on AbeBooks. Not so Fitzgerald's following effort, The Great Gatsby; that one we all know well enough.

Raptis Rare Books of Palm Beach has a copy of the book inscribed by the author to "Mr. Selwynn [sic]," which the listing suggests is Edgar (and not his brother Archibald) Selwyn. The volume has kept its distinctive dust jacket illustrated by John Held, Jr. The whole thing can be yours for $25,000.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
AbeBooks listing accessed November 7, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31196880193&searchurl=attrs%3Dsgnd%26ds%3D30%26kn%3DJohn%2BHeld%252C%2BJr.%26rollup%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp0-_-image4#&gid=1&pid=1

F. Scott Fitzgerald
AbeBooks item description

04794

Ben Simms's Copy of The Pious Friends and Drunken Companions by Frank Shay and John Held, Jr.

A savvy book publisher, perhaps struggling during the Great Depression, who wanted to capitalize on two popular volumes, My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions (1927) and More Pious Friends and Drunken  Companions (1928), both written by Frank Shay with illustrations by John Held, Jr., could simply reissue the pair together, say in 1936, as an omnibus volume. All that would be needed is a new title for the compendium—something unimaginative like The Pious Friends and Drunken Companions might even work. This new edition could be promoted with a book signing or two featuring that quintessential illustrator, Held, whose work so well embodied the Roaring Twenties but who may have had some time to spare in the 1930s.

Held added to one Ben Simms's copy of the book an unflattering self-portrait. He gave himself three chins and a rather pruny complexion. Cartoonists!

As I have previously noted, The Rumrunner's Sister-in-Law is Held's very first New Yorker woodcut, published in the issue of April 11, 1925. You remember, page 5.

At post time, the book is still available from Sequitur Books of Boonsboro. That's not a non sequitur.

John Held, Jr.
AbeBooks listing accessed September 27, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31897489881&searchurl=attrs%3Dsgnd%26ds%3D30%26kn%3DJohn%2BHeld%2BJr%26p%3D1%26rollup%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D17%26sp%3D0%26spo%3D30&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image29

Note:  I have never before seen a book in which John Held, Jr., left his signature, let alone a drawing. I would hope there are other examples to which my pious friends and drunken companions could introduce me.

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