Showing posts with label John Updike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Updike. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2024

Edward Sorel: John Barrymore Wanted to be a Cartoonist . . .

An ink and watercolor comic strip by Edward Sorel was published in The Nation on December 12, 1988. In it, Sorel muses on the failed cartooning ambitions of actors John Barrymore and Gary Cooper, and of writer John Updike. He takes a somewhat sardonic view of his own success as a cartoonist, proud that he's achieved what those three cultural titans could not, and choosing not to dwell on the relatively low pay he earned from his "special kind of talent." The original art of this little career day gem had been given by Sorel to Elizabeth and Dick Hyman of jazz fame. It was sold by their estate and thence to eBay.




Edward Sorel
eBay listing ended November 8, 2024

Edward Sorel
eBay item description


Edward Sorel
eBay bid history
A single bidder places two bids, one at the last minute to help insure a win.




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Thursday, April 13, 2023

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



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

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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Thursday, November 10, 2022

Roger Angell's Copy of U and I by Nicholson Baker

Sports essayist and New Yorker fiction editor Roger Angell died on May 20 of this year at the age of 101. Now, works from his library are beginning to appear on the market. They are offered by M. S. Books of Salisbury, Maryland. U and I: A True Story is Nicholson Baker's personal and unconventional reflection on his obsessive relationship with the work of author John Updike, the U of the title. Angell's volume is inscribed "To Roger/With thanks—/Nick/March 27, 1991," the year of publication. Unlike most copies, then, it has an association with a third New Yorker writer.



Nicholson Baker
AbeBooks listing accessed November 9, 2022






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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Blog Post No. 3200: St. Patrick's Day 1938—Will Cotton Original New Yorker Cover Art


A number of the covers—Irvin's of 3/31/34 and 11/21/36, Cotton's of 3/19/1938—would certainly be considered unprintably racist now...
—John Updike
The Complete Book of Covers from The New Yorker 1925-1989 
Will Cotton's New Yorker cover for St. Patrick's Day of 1938 is one of the magazine's most notorious. An Irish police officer encounters a drunken black man who passed out on the steps of a brownstone while still wearing his St. Paddy's Day regalia, an empty bottle resting between his legs. Lee Lorenz commented on it in 1997 when he was the magazine's cartoon editor:
Will Cotton's covers, skillfully executed in pastel, are memorable for their elegance and gentle wit. He was a gifted caricaturist, and his portraits of people were always warm, never grotesque. In contrast, the cover accompanying this article, which depicts an Irish cop looking at a homeless black man (3/19/38), manages to abuse both the Irish and blacks.
—Lee Lorenz
The New Yorker, "Cover Stories"
December 15, 1997, p. 124


I don't know whether the black man is indeed homeless or simply unable to make it to his home while under the influence. The cover derives its humor from unfortunate racial stereotypes rendered in rich pastels. The original art, now on the market, shows Cotton's beautiful rendering of a not-so-beautiful subject to be very well-preserved.
Will Cotton
Original art
The New Yorker, March 19, 1938


Cotton's gift inscription to illustrator R. Roberts Baldwin directly on the cover art doesn't in any way diminish the political incorrectness of the whole affair. It does seem to imply that "Baldy" was the model for the Irish cop.
Inscribed [to R. Roberts Baldwin] "To Baldy (the figure on the
                                                                left)
from               
W. Cotton"

Will Cotton's signature

Will Cotton
The New Yorker, March 19, 1938


 The original art is offered by Between the Covers of New Jersey for $22,000. The rare book dealer's description of the item, which includes a more extended quotation from Lee Lorenz, is well worth reading.
Will Cotton
AbeBooks Listing Accessed February 22, 2020

 Note:  One thing we like here at Attempted Bloggery is original cover art from the New Yorker magazine. New examples are welcome. Feel free to share any you might have lying about. The other thing we like is corned beef and cabbage.
Can this 3,200th post really be the first opportunity here to mention the art of Will Cotton? How on earth did that happen? The original art remains available for sale at the time of this posting.

The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200:  A Shaggy Dog Story
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Monday, December 18, 2017

John Updite and Edward Gorey: The Twelve Terrors of Christmas

A first edition of The Twelve Terrors of Christmas (1993) is signed by both author John Updike and illustrator Edward Gorey. These two talents are sorely missed.


The Twelve Terrors of Christmas
Limitation page signed by John Updike and Edward Gorey, copy 595/600

John Updike and Edward Gorey
AbeBooks Listing as of July 1, 2017



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Sunday, December 4, 2016

Christmas at the New Yorker Signed by John Updike

John Updike (1932-2009) wrote the foreword to Christmas at The New Yorker, a 2003 collection of art, prose, and poetry from the magazine. A copy signed by the celebrated author was offered at $120 on eBay earlier this year. It was sold in March.
Christmas at The New Yorker:  Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art
(New York:  Random House, 2003)
Cover art by Lonni Sue Johnson

Christmas at The New Yorker:  Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art
(New York:  Random House, 2003)
Signed by John Updike

eBay Listing Ended March 20, 2016

eBay Item Description




The book's festive cover art may be found on the cover of a 1985 issue of the magazine:
Lonni Sue Johnson, The New Yorker, December 16, 1985


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