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

04171

The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons

WETA, owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, is the public television station of our nation's capital. In 2004, the station chose to up its game and commissioned the Cartoon Bank to create The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons. It is neither very rare nor very common, but two copies of it were spotted in February on eBay.

Front cover cartoon by Mick Stevens
The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons

The back cover's cartoon is also by Mick Stevens! What are the chances of that?

Cartoons by Al Ross and Mischa Richter

The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons
eBay listing accessed February 9, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18518557123...

The New Yorker WETA Book of Cartoons
eBay item description

Staten Island cartoonist Aaron Bacall (1939-2015) caught my eye at the top of the Index of Artists. According to Ink Spill, he is a member of the One Club, a cartoonist who had one—and only one—cartoon published in The New Yorker. In his case, it's a gag about a mobile phone. It's a good one, but what on earth could it be doing here in the WETA book?

The answer is that it isn't here. Instead we have this cartoon:

Is Bacall then actually a member of some "Two Club?" He is not. His Kermit cartoon is listed as unpublished. You might very well ask why an unpublished gag is included in a New Yorker collection. I'll have to get back to you on that.

One final note: as a native New Yorker, I'm proud to say that WNET New York's collection was published in 2003, beating WETA by a year.

Covers by Frank Modell and Mick Stevens

Note:  The history of the Cartoon Bank's privately-published collections is shrouded in mystery. How many are there? (Ink Spill quotes a Cartoon Bank employee as answering, "like a thousand," here.) How small were the press runs? It's a muddle, because some books in the series were distributed nationally and others may have been given out only at a single event. I would like to hear, of course, from anyone with the answers. I'd also like to see collections published by other PBS stations and I'd like to hear about other Cartoon Bank collections which might also contain, heaven forfend, any previously unpublished cartoons. (If there is a New Yorker Book of Unpublished Cartoons, I want to see it!) Also curious is the appearance of one cartoonist on the front and back covers. Did this happen more than once?

Michael Maslin's Ink Spill tribute written on the passing of One Clubber Aaron Bacall may be found here. Check out his, Bacall's, only New Yorker cartoon. Only published New Yorker cartoon, that is.

03942

School Days: Cartoons from The New Yorker

School Days:  Cartoons from The New Yorker is a 2010 Cartoon Bank collection, one of many that have eluded me—until now. When I found a copy selling for just $4.00 on AbeBooks with free shipping, I seized the opportunity of adding it to my library. The book is much like the other Cartoon Bank books but smaller, perhaps a salute to the diminutive Eustace Tilley in Michael Witte's cover illustration or else a tacit acknowledgement that these books were getting more expensive to produce.

School Days:  Cartoons from The New Yorker
AbeBooks listing accessed January 5, 2021

The cartoonists

Back cover

03871

The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons with a Bob Mankoff Self-Portrait

In a copy of The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons sold on eBay, cartoon editor Bob Mankoff has merged his signature with his self-portrait. The B in Bob forms a part of his right-facing profile. Bob Mankoff draws a lot of these self-caricatures, but I don't recall seeing one with this letter-play before.

The New Yorker Book of New York Cartoons, 2004. Cover illustration by Michael Witte.

Front free endpaper signed with self-portrait by Bob Mankoff

Back cover with "Miracles on 34th Street" by Roz Chast

EBay Listing Ended November 19, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-New-Yorker-Book-of-New-York-Cartoons-Signed-First-Edition-/331377993469?nma=true&si=MY%252BVlM1DDf4MNMNGGnCdh3m%252FHQQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

EBay Item Description

A single bid was placed in the final three seconds of the auction.

Note:  These days it seems Bob Mankoff has become a media star. Blog posts here count as media too.

I just love to peruse signed books with original drawings so I've posted a whole bunch of them here on the blog. Enjoy.

I said yesterday I wouldn't link to any more of my Christmas posts this year and I'm sticking to my guns.

01379