Sean's Copy of The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons

I don't know who Sean may be, but his copy of The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons (1998) was quite special. It was sold on eBay on September 11. The dust jacket art is by Michael Witte.

The unique feature of the book is the front free endpaper, which has drawings by five New Yorker cartoonists: Arnie Levin, Mick Stevens, Peter Steiner, Roz Chast, and Bob Mankoff. The cartoon census is one dog, one snake, one cat, and two human males. Through Stevens's signature, we learn that this assemblage dates to 1999, the year after publication.

Title page

Facing cartoons by Danny Shanahan and James Stevenson

Cartoons by Tom Cheney and Donald Reilly

Cartoons by Jack Ziegler and, again, Stevenson

A cartoon by Bernard Schoenbaum and the roster of cartoonists in the book

Back cover cartoon by Lee Lorenz

The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons
eBay listing ended September 11, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187559204260?_skw=signed+Yorker&epid=512875&itmmeta=01K5QGH0KS6DRRVXFTWR0EVASE&hash=item2bab6655a4:g:Uj8AAeSwlp1owhXH&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1e0PK9611tjD3x4MYjI0UTSilszT%2BAjheAETZrqA%2BeDAChD4%2FT8ebUMX9wyG4MjDVdGz%2F9u5aSmrgQHn4x%

2FvWoveYnH88BkXfKkbxK5zPDRcoo4VKcQ%2BsNjvVPe5%2BqY0QjPF80xGjBL7hFLoNVd8LEdMpM5NU1iJR7oR4A54NRjgjcjY9JO0tqgMfWR%2FE%2FyCMzLf939jKTQ2vqx3aus%2FC4VW8DFyWkuiJ69jhLyGcV6hsXw4JpWKDhdRF4H1GAymFkp%2Bp4IpH1G%2BAxlBQXNJMqkCu47j6wTvL9BCj%2FQzlwBzQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4KKxPCtZg

The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons
eBay item description

Note:  I'm just a simple blogger who would like to post other endpaper drawings by other New Yorker cartoonists in other New Yorker books of this ilk. See what you can do.

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Bill and Audrey's Copy of The New Yorker Book of Dog Cartoons

Did I mention that Bill and Audrey were, apparently, friends with New Yorker cartoonist George Booth?

Mike Witte

after Rea Irvin

"To Bill and Audrey!
George Booth."

Title page

Beware! Skittish Dog
George Booth

"Mongrels have it up here."
William Steig

Le Bon Chien
Roz Chast

"First then: the bulk of my estate, excepting certain specific bequest as hereinafter noted, I leave to my true friend and companion, one of God's noblest creatures . . . "
Peter Arno

"Hey, the tide has turned!"
Al Ross

George Booth
eBay listing accessed July 22, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/297485891678?_skw=yorker&itmmeta=01K0TKEDQ00Q9689F5Z1CWJC6J&hash=item45438a785e:g:5C8AAeSwP65ofqQ7

George Booth
eBay item description

Sold!

Note:  Readers who are lucky enough to possess books thus embellished by George Booth are encouraged to share images of them here.

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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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The New Yorker Book of Christmas Cartoons

It looks for all the world like a mass market Cartoon Bank collection but The New Yorker Book of Christmas Cartoons was published in 2004 specifically for Restoration Hardware. It was priced at $19.95 and must have been sold in the company's stores. The contemporary bookseller's stock image of an embossed blue cover does not resemble the edition I was to receive. That almost makes a little sense, as the synopsis of this online listing instead described The New Yorker Desk Diary 2010 Desk Calendar, but then there are many online copies of The New Yorker Book of Christmas Cartoons which use the same stock photograph.

The New Yorker Book of Christmas Cartoons
AbeBooks listing ended October 17, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31019785097&searchurl=kn%3DThe%2BNew%2BYorker%2BBook%2Bof%2BCartoons%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title14

The cover is illustrated by Michael Witte, who did the covers for the Cartoon Bank's mass market editions. Many of the standard customized editions in the series simply have a cartoon on the front cover.

The New Yorker Book of Christmas Cartoons

Cover by Michael Witte

The front dust jacket flap leads with a
bedtime  cartoon by Alex Gregory. Then
there is some lighthearted text explaining
the book's reason for being.

The back dust jacket flap has a cartoon by
Charles Saxon.

The back cover cartoon is by Bruce Eric
Kaplan.

Index of Artists

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Yours for a Grand: Michael Witte's Eustace Tilley in The Nutcracker

Since its premiere in 1954, George Balanchine's production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" has been a holiday institution in New York. Spoiler alert: The ballet ends with Marie and the Prince carried off in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.

Photo: © Paul Kolnik / The New York City Ballet / The George Balanchine Trust

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-nutcracker-set-design-secrets

In 1989, illustrator Michael Witte revisited this moment, adding The New Yorker's mascot Eustace Tilley as a third passenger in the sleigh, an excellent vantage point from which to observe through his monocle a butterfly perched on a reindeer antler. The drawing was used as a seasonal spot illustration in the Goings On About Town section of The New Yorker, one of a long series by Witte featuring Eustace Tilley in various situations and settings.

Michael Witte
Original art
The New Yorker, December 11, 1989, p. 8

The original art, unsigned, is available from Sotheby's, who identifies it only as "a Christmas scene," for a fixed price. It is also available from James Cummins, bookseller, no doubt the consignor, also for $1,000.

Michael Witte
Sotheby's listing accessed November 28, 2022

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/_michael-witte-new-yorker-original-ink-drawing-14e6

James Cummins, bookseller, reveals that the drawing belonged to James H. Heineman. He dates the drawing to circa 1995 and identifies it only as a "Christmas subject."

Michael Witte
James Cummins, bookseller, listing accessed November 28, 2022

https://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/24027/new-yorker-magazine-art-michael-witte/new-yorker-drawing-original-ink-drawing-of-christmas-subject

In the magazine, the 13" x 16" original is reduced to a one-and-a-quarter column width.

Michael Witte
Original art
The New Yorker, December 11, 1989, p. 8

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1989-12-11/flipbook/008/

Note:  Michael Witte pronounces his name Witty while cartoonist Phil Witte, no relation, pronounces his name Wit. (Thanks to Phil Witte for that.)

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