Tina Marie's Copy of The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons

The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons is a 2004 collection published by Bloomberg Press. Its subject matter, cartoons about the City of New York from a magazine that celebrates that city and is named for its prototypical denizen, should qualify it as one of the least improbable books to be put together by the Cartoon Bank. The cover illustration by Michael Witte shows the magazine's mascot Eustace Tilley doing his perennial butterfly-gazing into a snow globe of Manhattan.

Tina Marie's copy, sold earlier this month on eBay, is something of a rarity. It is signed by cartoonist Leo Cullum (1942–2010), not an easy find, and embellished with a drawing of a cat in a collar, no doubt an apartment dweller in a certain vibrant metropolis.

The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons
eBay listing accessed December 13, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/374282526238?hash=item5724fa1e1e:g:XvUAAOSwBMBjMWBs&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwEJHYFpWg0B1RGhNtAus%2FpeN3HaUiJISEhE%2F0Z%2FHGAcchoymsztaKVmcLg52RyuMYS%2FWAHyB5hSJ%2F6qxoVetMHby7n

LQ%2FDNpEx%2Fvh9w7IOmyS3ma5oegUnkMhjDRWzYoGcAzd3MQ%2Blbht5F0kSboxBifdhdYG8%2BxPrtdWxuyQ9MQA7klHERCuaAILUycZi4ZNw6aJ6LbTjldFUkfKSHRbCzS%2FR622jrpsbvYlV%2BC2WU7uW5Aqzg8Wg39lvwwSu9WjQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5bz8MqpYQ

Leo Cullum
eBay item description:  "Photos are of actual item."

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Karl Haendel: New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #16 and #5

Some of the cultural artifacts appropriated by artist Karl Haendel are published New Yorker cartoons, enlarged and redrawn in graphite by the artist from the magazine page. Sometimes Handel groups these works with other drawings, creating an installation of appropriated works that are related thematically in ways that may or may not be fully apparent. In the case of New Yorker Cartoon #16 and #5, the two works are framed together, one above the other, for a reason that seems transparently obvious: both drawings are appropriations of New Yorker cartoons on the subject of military medals. The top drawing, #16, is appropriated from a published cartoon by Leo Cullum, while the bottom drawing, #5, is taken from a cartoon by Bob Mankoff. Both cartoons were published by The New Yorker in 2004 and appropriated by Haendel in that year. The framed pair went to auction yesterday with a presale estimate of $1,000 to $2,000.

Karl Haendel
Capsule Gallery Auction listing accessed September 19, 2022

 https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/karl-haendel-new-yorker-cartoon-64-c-21249ecb69?objectID=173760160&algIndex=upcoming_lots_prod&queryID=0dc5163e1c6bf4f6eb5eb0e7182a8de7

 

The lot was passed with the bidding, I believe, at $800:

In chronological order:

Bob Mankoff

Karl Haendel after Bob Mankoff

Cartoon by Bob Mankoff

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2004-01-12/flipbook/032/

Leo Cullum

Karl Haendel after Leo Cullum

Cartoon by Leo Cullum

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2004-03-29/flipbook/006/

Note:  How does it feel to have one's cartoon appropriated? David Sipress weighs in on his experience with "Stop, Thief! My Cartoon Gets Appropriated." 

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The Lighter Side of Business Travel

In 2005, the National Business Travel Association, or NBTA, commissioned a custom book from the Cartoon Bank, The Lighter Side of Business Travel, a New Yorker cartoon collection. The NBTA did the same again in 2008, publishing another custom cartoon book with the exact same title but a different cover, also designated as a first edition. Presumably, the 2008 book is not merely a reprint of the 2005 book, but it's hard to be certain without examining them side by side. Instead, I examined the eBay listings side by side, surely the next best thing. They are archived below, with the newer collection first, because those photos are the better ones. Incidentally, the NBTA is now the Global Business Travel Association, or GBTA, but there are no new cartoon collections to show for it.

Why on earth are the words first class superimposed on Leo Cullum's cartoon on page 86? This is not at all typical of The New Yorker. Do similar superfluous designations appear elsewhere in the book?

The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2008)
eBay listing accessed February 8, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265535169404?hash=item3dd321237c:g:7-gAAOSwh2Fh~pKG

The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2008)
eBay item description

I'm afraid we don't get nearly as good a look at the 2005 collection:

The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2005)
eBay listing accessed February 9, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193602761743?hash=item2d139fb40f:g:9VsAAOSwIfFhqqh8

The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2005)
eBay item description

Note:  Well, there you have it. An easy way to compare these two books would be to compare their artist indices. The one from 2008 is already included in the first listing, but I would like to be able to also post a scan of the Index of Artists from the 2005 edition, that is, the collection with Pandora's Carry-On by Robert Leighton on the cover. Please help me out, if you can.

03952

Mick Stevens: All in the Past?

An original New Yorker cartoon by Mick Stevens first published almost thirty years ago shows, very likely, some fading but is in otherwise good condition. The gag itself hasn't aged badly at all. In fact, it is one of the few cartoons that actually appeared twice in the pages of the magazine, having been published in 1993 and subsequently reprised in The New Yorker's 1997 Cartoon Issue. The original art sold last weekend for only half its low estimate, although it's hard to know exactly what that says about the market when the auction house didn't even get the artist's name right.

"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Framed original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

Mick Stevens's signature

Mick Stevens
Sarasota Estate Auction, February 26, 2022

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/mike-stevens-20th-c-new-yorker-cartoon-634-c-b584fcabcb

"I know what I said ten minutes ago. That was the old me talking."
Mick Stevens
Original art
The New Yorker, May 3, 1993
The New Yorker, December 15, 1997

Cartoon by Mick Stevens and advertisement by Macy's

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1993-05-03/flipbook/006/

This drawing is one of only a few to be published in the magazine twice, here in the Cartoon Issue of December 15, 1997:

"Encores"
Cartoons by Leo Cullum, Tom Cheney, Mick Stevens, Jon Agee, and Charles Barsotti

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1997-12-15/flipbook/120/

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