Attempted Bloggery: Lucretia J. Weed

Showing posts with label Lucretia J. Weed. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Peter Weed's Copy of Browse at Your Own Risk by George Price

Over the past few months, eBay seller Pinstripe Cards offered a number of books by New Yorker cartoonists that were inscribed to Peter or Lucretia J. Weed of the publishing firm Congdon & Weed. This copy of George Price's Browse at Your Own Risk (1977) was the last of them, signed to Peter a full decade after the collection was published.

"To Peter Weed
with all best wishes
Geo. Price
March 10 '87"

Title page

Below, we read that one-hundred eighty of the one-hundred ninety drawings were originally published in The New Yorker. This is a reminder, if any were needed, of the magazine's importance to a major cartoonist like Price and, in truth, to so many others.

"But you're not going girl-watching in that getup!"

What are the odds? In 2019, I posted the original art for the above cartoon here.

"I said, you're standing on my metatarsals."

"Is this cabin pressurized properly? My baked apple just blew up."

This color art is Price's one and only New Yorker cover. It was published on December 25, 1965.

George Price
eBay listing accessed September 1, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405533354239?_skw=George+Price+Browse+at+your+own+risk+signed&epid=4627059&itmmeta=01K43HCZYS2MGKTWX9BPDWR43B&hash=item5e6babe8ff:g:19kAAOSwAtpnqPho&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dLkVQ%2BZu53189Thj1eXn%2F2E9dFKdwaTz61B7tP92gahUJO%2FRPiMHg9tc9r5xKlG0I6

k0e163FyaypqDMqgo%2BIX97mtn%2FlGF9H72VoHJwSBosgxYM8oE1QSXzEjIkyDLhfjEA%2BfIu2eJbaKDC71l0qxD8sh2hj6jCnAXNfwY4Kdk6lTbi6zhdWL1%2FX3mE6T7b4oCUAVzKXPTOy3yN0Bnyo5Ed3cZr7QZy3eUqUk%2FccFxq9fxzAwlvoEiHxvksyqZcZ9N9thV1u2lEJVZhvQIUuoSzM3XMenqJ17rwYw5I1KMQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8L_s_GgZg&pfm=1

George Price
eBay item description

Note: There's a lot more out there—books, original art, correspondence—about cartoonist George Price. If you have it, you know I'd love to see it.

I'd take cartoon-related material about the Weeds as well.

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Sunday, August 31, 2025

Lucretia J. Weed's Copy of Stop Trying to Cheer Me Up! by Frank Modell

Publisher Lucretia J. Weed's copy of Stop Trying to Cheer Me Up! was inscribed to her by cartoonist Frank Modell in 1978, the year of publication. For a collection of Modell cartoons, the title is perfect.

The back cover features a unicorn on a unicycle. What else? The play on words might not be immediately apparent.

Modell inscribed the front free endpaper, but it takes two efforts for him to spell Lucretia correctly.

Half title

Title page

All but four of the one-hundred sixty drawings were first published in The New Yorker. The work spans thirty years in the magazine, 1948-1978.

The book is dedicated to three people. The former Daisy Simon and Irving Modell were the cartoonist's parents. James Geraghty, of course, was the magazine's art editor from 1939 to 1973.

"And when did it first occur to you that perhaps life is not a cabaret?"

Frank Modell
eBay listing ended July 12, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405533414673?_skw=Stop+Trying+to+Cheer+Me+Up%21+Signed+Frank+Modell%2F1st+Ed%2FHCDJ+1978+Humor+Cartoons&epid=4598692&itmmeta=01K3YVYB47HC3XDE2BQEYY1J9M&hash=item5e6bacd511:g:Y4UAAOSwILJnqQEi&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABEFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dAsTDW17yImIO0vsR7QhtTIVkQ0w1Tvf2WfV3kuRMgsjxAEn7CiQrbWtUldBpke2SZ5kVNFp7k9liJZdYj83Pyr4Txi2%2FPtudzw28F2

H%2BH7yCWtpRmcSHjxQ7dvwgIt4P779K0xxTAqh8M8%2BwRyB8VACcWh32t6NdSmRNdLV%2FfY037sea0fomLzsN2C%2B2ttUWm0LbAhI1%2FOzq2RTvexVyjtxmRzUz0A3tcWXPbotwY338mHsLuJ1P0pCbN7Sk3Mb%2BcGhVmDIVbvL3%2BxoIZZyp4otVXD5F%2BOGFizNcBbq01WXAzBwJpDuDSqpt6Byb4K9LAmyTuw18QAR%2FukV5%2FE2S%2B%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5iy-dufZg&pfm=1

Frank Modell
eBay item description

Sold for a Best Offer of $40.

And for anyone who doesn't get the one cartoon this eBay seller chose to photograph, this might very well help:

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Thursday, August 21, 2025

Lucretia J. Weed's Copy of Let's Boogie! by James Stevenson

James Stevenson inscribed a copy of Let's Boogie!, his 1978 cartoon collection from Dodd, Mead, to Lucretia J. Weed, publisher at Congdon & Weed. He included an inscription and a drawing of a bear, presumably the tee-shirted one from the cover. The book is no longer available.

Dedication to New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell

"It's me again."

It's just going to continue and continue

James Stevenson
eBay listing accessed July 10, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405533342966?_skw=cartoon&itmmeta=01JZVRRE9XZXCWPPSQSDEAJPVK&hash=item5e6babbcf6:g:0zgAAOSwJgpnqPWb

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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Lucretia J. Weed's Copy of Omnibooth: The Best of George Booth

Lucretia and Peter Weed of Congdon & Weed, Inc., oversaw the publication of a number of cartoon book collections by some of the New Yorker cartoonists whose work we fondly recollect. They include George Booth, Frank Modell, George Price, Charles Saxon, and James Stevenson—quite possibly others as well. What's interesting about Lucretia's copy of Omnibooth: The Best of George Booth, his 1984 collection, is not so much the inscription but the small archive of letters, clippings, and stationery that accompany it.

Imagine being the recipient of a handwritten letter from Booth. Despite the informal tone, he does talk some business. There is humor here as well.

Isn't it just like Booth to use a Laurel & Hardy stamp?

In 1993, Booth contributed an energetic drawing and some encouraging wordage, both equally unique, to the Smith College Alumnae Fund, of which Lucretia was apparently cochair for the Class of '59. Booth offers "an occasional apology to E. Gorey" which I find baffling. Is he giving a tip of the hat to Gorey for The Curious Sofa (1961)? For this?

Personally, I don't know how anyone threw away this 1987 copy of the New York Times Book Review.

The same thing goes for the "Weekend" section of The Missourian, although I probably don't know any subscribers.

It would have been a blast to see Norene and George's work side by side at the Davis Gallery, no?

The Omnibooth front cover—more is more:

George Booth and cat:

Endpaper extravaganza:

Inscribed, "For Lucretia!
George Booth."

Title page

George Booth
eBay listing ended June 10, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405533252708?_skw=Omnibooth+signed&epid=5154231&itmmeta=01JZPFPVEMVGN3PSYZQCKHKYGX&hash=item5e6baa5c64:g:P1wAAOSwyx1nqOla&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eduzQWvqbA4jUaVcgNZai3CTA5UaAc0hsxXYASagqJPWmXJCpOLMFqSBUJiT%2FhhXENo3llOlBsUr5pgWmob2a0UFZk%2

BDxWmxjzc%2F0fmzu%2BfbvHuacwtXDEe6h6GB66BCeL4%2B9lEXvI%2Ft9UcXnylS5ODgE4YTLXvMsCo3VnR4mKChQgVZkD7h8Q5rQ%2BYdUj5z0%2FeCah4zqnd03TPN70yw4jc0g%2BuzY%2BCCD%2FEPfJW1NpAm%2FGEeqWrP6LEb2a2yQxMIkq2GgOcYgh%2BgXB1RTCwbjBi1CyxZaFILaHjkYAIyjo0w%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7C328_9ZQ

". . . signed by [editor] Kenneth R. Hine." Are we looking at the same book?
George Booth
eBay item description

August 23, 2025 Update: The book has now made its way from eBay to AbeBooks, where it is listed by Jan's Collectibles of Bethany, MO. There are far better photographs of the Weekend article and The New York Times Book Review cover which I append below. Oh, and the price for the ensemble is now $400.