Sempé à New York—known here as Sempé in New York for those who need a translation—shows cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé's love for a great city even though it is not Paris.
The book was published in 2009. Barry Humphrie's copy was personalized by the artist in 2010 with an inscription and a drawing of a saxophonist playing to the canyons of Manhattan.
Humphries was the Australian comic actor and author best known for his portrayal of Dame Edna Everage. He was a lifelong bibliophile and art collector.
Sempé was deft at balancing the city's overwhelming scale with the people who inhabit it.
I believe I am sensing a trend toward moderation in the prices booksellers are asking. Yes, $575 is a lot of money, but this is an outstanding copy of this book.
Jean-Jacques Sempé AbeBooks listing accessed November 2, 2025
Note: For more on Barry Humphries's exquisite collection, see Christie's.
If you'd like to know what cartoonist Charles Addams thought of a Humphries performance as Dame Edna, you need only to dive into this blog's archives.
I personally have been loathe to purchase anything from the U.K. since the August 29 repeal of the de minimus tarriff exemption for packages under $800.
At Glasses on First, a window display features a snow-covered model of Mickey's Playhouse complete with a doghouse for Pluto and that all-important look-out tower. In the foreground, a figurine of Mickey greets a father and daughter making a snowman—or, to be more accurate, a snowmouse. All of the figures have the requisite mouse ears.
Window display at Glasses on First, New York
Note: There are more Disney posts here to please your inner child.
When I saw this plaque on the Upper East Side, I assumed it referred to a local C. S. Lewis society, he being the author of The Chronicles of Narnia. Not so. The Clubs are in fact a local Catholic School.
On Wednesday evening, Roz Chast and Barry Yourgrau appeared in conversation together at Kinokuniya Bookstore just across the street from Bryant Park. Mr. Yourgrau is the author of Mess: One Man's Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act (2015) and Ms. Chast is the author of Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (2014). Both speakers have experienced the exasperation of dealing with clutter and understand how a lifetime's worth of accumulated objects can have a strong emotional resonance.
I have refrained from buying New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast's memoir for more than a year, hoping to get a signed copy. While it was Ms. Chast I had gone to see, Mr. Yourgrau's comments were intelligent and insightful, and the discussion caused me to reflect on my own irrational attachment to my personal clutter. The discussion of collecting versus hoarding hit particularly close to home, as I hoped to confirm that I am a connoisseur rather than a psychopath. On this point, the conclusion might have been more reassuring...
Afterwards I met Ms. Chast and she signed a copy of her memoir for me. In the minute or two we had together, I learned that she had not heard of me or of this blog. Good to know. So I guess I can say here whatever I want about her part of the presentation.
She was awesome!
Roz Chast and Barry Yourgrau at Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York
Roz Chast and Barry Yourgrau at Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? signed and inscribed by Roz Chast
Rob Chast.Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? New York: Bloomsbury, 2014
That very night a signed copy from the event appeared on eBay. Originally priced at $68 as I recall, it is now offered at $88 with a Make Offer option. That's more than I've documented this signed book going for, but it makes sense on some level. From a seller's perspective, I could see paying for two signed books–about $30 each with the sales tax—and selling one on eBay for double that or more. Then it would be like getting your own signed book for free. Of course, we don't know whether the eBay seller bergdorfgirl is keeping a personal copy, but I'd like to think so.
What does the buyer get for all that dough? Well, buying this one book at the event cost me $30 but there was also $30 in rush hour cab fare. It also cost me more than three hours' time door to door. If I were just interested in a signed book and not in attending the event, meeting Ms. Chast, and discovering her complete ignorance of this blog, I could just as well have bought the copy on eBay. I probably wouldn't have, but I could have.
Rob Chast.Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? New York: Bloomsbury, 2014
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? signed by Roz Chast
"Things." Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
"Sheer Lunacy" Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
Roz Chast signs books for her fans at Kinokunia Bookstore
Yesterday, on the morning after Winter Storm Jonas, hundreds of children who had to remain indoors during the blizzard came out in force to experience the thrill of sledding on fresh snow. These photos were taken at Cedar Hill in Central Park where it was pretty exhilarating just to watch all the activity.
New York's original Pennsylvania Station was an architectural masterpiece designed by the firm McKim, Mead, and White. It was completed in 1910, photographed by Berenice Abbott(1898-1991) in 1936, and torn down without ceremony in 1963. The destruction of this irreplaceable building gave rise to today's landmark preservation movement. Penn Station, of course, was rebuilt, but the current incarnation is of no architectural significance. Berenice Abbott's photo gives an idea of the scale and the atmosphere of the vast structure when nearly empty. As architectural elements, the massive metal pillars appear almost like treetrunks under an urban forest canopy, rising majestically toward the middle of the image. This limited edition print, no. 18/100, is available from Chris Beetles Fine Photographs in London.
Berenice Abbott,Pennsylvania Station, New York, 1936, No. 18/100
Berenice Abbott,Pennsylvania Station, New York, 1936, No. 18/100 Chris Beetles Fine Photographs
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