Barbara Shermund: No Time for Crime by Charlotte Murray Russell

No Time for Crime by Charlotte Murray Russell is the eighth book in the Jane Amanda Edwards mystery series. It seems we have some catching up to do. This wartime novel was published in 1945. Original art by illustrator Barbara Shermund was evidently intended for and presumably used as the book jacket. It was sold recently on eBay. The story looks . . . eventful.

Barbara Shermund's signature

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 9, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147302644383?_skw=signed+Barbara+Shermund&itmmeta=01KWTHRV3FAE4AEX6A2XYWW49Z&hash=item224bebfa9f:gdl0AAeSwrWdp~3fz&itmpr

p=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCsSUjLc3wconGa9uSHF%2FrZmy4YfKX%2FGF7g%2BRPwRUqmyrsK%2B5pwvwV6EHk2EL9%2B4IWWYeDlW%

2B8xSDEFNKiJez0JrWlEir7vWlz4JlEORlgMqqs%2B%2FnA%2BiBL4%2FiCwiYFEcyWZPlIZE4y44trinARGHYqWayWtqhqysrJB6HPL8Jrdtm2x1LeLnq

3pmx8x5PqhqEWpKtLSh1zBpIWx1AoHSLfFcoIpxPMzGMT9GYvNlDn05DS7Js5CO0zv3%2FJVCdJei08nt2D73t%2FGnSDnH0pPBTSRrq1%2Fk

6G4JX1pNMRWTAAtqQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_Kx49HmZw

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Note:  After scarcely more than eighty years, you'd think it was a simple enough thing to find an image of the dust jacket, right? Despite my self-proclaimed Googling skills, I've come up with nothing so far. Perhaps someone else can do better. 

The book is reviewed not unfavorably in the New York Times here.

05291

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.

George Booth
AbeBooks listing accessed August 23, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Omnibooth-Best-George-Booth-Congdon-Weed/32275199230/bd

George Booth
AbeBooks item description

September 25, 2025 Update:  Now at ten percent off.

04997

Promoting Peter Arno's Circus: Audacity Vs. Dirt

Two contemporary advertisements for Peter Arno's Circus, his 1931 cartoon collection, show distinctly different approaches to the art of book promotion. The first was spotted by Scott Burns in the New York Times Book Review of January 11, 1931. Under the banner "Audacity vs. Dirt," it revels in Arno's reputation for racy humor, and in the consummate skill which he brings to his art—not like, you know, some of those crude hack artists out there. Well, see the language for yourself:

Advertisement for Peter Arno's Circus
The New York Times Book Review, January 11, 1931

Photo by Scott Burns

In contrast, here is how the book was promoted on Arno's home territory in The New Yorker:

Advertisement for Peter Arno's Circus
The New Yorker, December 14, 1931, page 91

Unsigned spot drawing, news breaks, and various advertising

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1931-12-12/flipbook/090/

Peter Arno's Circus, 1931

Image added March 18, 2022

https://www.biblio.com/book/peter-arnos-circus-arno-peter/d/1160648062?aid=frg&gclid=Cj0KCQjw29CRBhCUARIsAOboZbKDV-fR6h5tvjRrwYCRI_1YVKjy2quVXb63xkq4HnTokhU1Se5nmdsaAvqKEALw_wcB

Note:  Scott Burns has come through once again, earning my gratitude here for the fifteenth time. Among his many accomplishments, Scott maintains a comprehensive Ralph Steadman bibliography here. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

As a result of these new findings, I've had to update my far-from-comprehensive 2016 post on Peter Arno book promotions here.

Are there other print ads for this book? Your discoveries can be added to this blog.

Glory be! Who can identify this spot artist?

03909

Charles Saxon 9 X for The New York Times

In 1961, a portfolio of nine cartoons by New Yorker cartoonist Charles Saxon was given to booksellers as a promotion for the New York Times Book Review. The photos, taken by an eBay seller, don't show all the cartoons and crop out parts of some captions, but they're still worth a look.

9 X Saxon

"Mrs. Hartung asks that questions be restricted to
non-recent books. She wishes to avoid saying anything
that might adversely affect any work in current release."

"Mrs. Hartung asks that questions be restricted to
non-recent books. She wishes to avoid saying anything
that might adversely affect any work in current release."

"This isn't one of those non-books, is it?"

"All I know about her is that I keep seeing in
acknowledgments that she helps make books possible."

"I wonder if you could suggest something to wean me
away from Jack Paar."

"This just kills me. A note to myself to read
'To The Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf, and I
can't remember why!"

"This isn't one of those non-books, is it?"

Charles Saxon
eBay listing ended July 8, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184916537998?hash=item2b0de2728e%3Ag%3AQyAAAOSwt8Bg3nDn&nma=true&si=64J6TuENCQvl%252FEQuIbsoMEcDQlw%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Charles Saxon
eBay item Description

03702