George Booth: Two Jumping Chickens and One Coughing Hog

A copy of George Booth's cartoon collection Rehearsal's Off! is personalized for Kay Sexton, who was the manager of the first B. Dalton bookstore. Two jumping chickens and one coughing hog are illustrated, a play, it seems, on the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is inscribed as well with wishes for a Happy New Year. The book was published on January 1, 1976 but Ms. Sexton, a leading promotor of books,  may well have received an advance copy.

Note:  Another book from Kay Sexton's collection, this one signed and drawn upon by Edward Koren, was mentioned here last year. Simply click on the aqua link to see it.

I love sharing signed books with original drawings here on the old blog. Truth be told, the best source for drawings by George Booth found in cartoon books is Chris Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Galleries. Visit his splendid page about George Booth to see them. Then if you should come across any more original Booth drawings in, say, cartoon books or anywhere else, please send them along and I just might include them in a future blog post. You will have made the world a better place.

Please don't go blabbing this to everyone, but George Booth will turn 90 tomorrow. Why not celebrate with some popcorn and my collected posts about the art of George Booth?

Then there's Michael Maslin's Ink Spill blog, your best source for news about New Yorker cartoonists including the man of the hour, George Booth.

But if you'd like to read Mr. Booth in his own words, be sure to check out Jane Mattimoe's recent interview with him at A Case for Pencils.

Semper Fi. Also don't miss Richard Gehr's 2013 interview with George Booth for the Comics Journal. 

I'll ask again:  What's so funny about chickens?

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Ronald Searle: The Twelve Days of Christmas—and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Ronald Searle's 1982 original illustration of the Twelve Days of Christmas was sold by Christie's in 2001 for a very festive price. The artwork features a Searle cat and was created for a Camden Graphics Christmas card. It also depicts a partridge in a pear tree—and it's delicious!

Ronald Searle, The Twelve Days of Christmas—and a Partridge in a Pear Tree1982, Camden Graphics

Christie's South Kensington, Sale 9281, Lot 236, December 6, 2001
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/ronald-william-fordham-searle-the-twelve-days-3851649-details.aspx?from=searchresults&pos=4&intObjectID=3851649&sid=fc452f62-298b-44cf-933f-cf6d15624e56&page=2&lid=1

Christie's Lot Description

Christie's Lot Notes

Note:  Further blog reading:
           Ronald Searle
           Christmas
           Original illustration art

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Ilonka Karasz: The Twelve Days of Christmas

In 1949, Ilonka Karasz illustrated a picture book of The Twelve Days of Christmas. A few pages are shown here. The illustrations, like the Christmas carol's verses, are recursive in that each new one recapitulates all the previous ones after adding to it.

Ilonka Karasz, The Twelve Days of Christmas, 1949

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

A partridge in a pear tree

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Eight Maids a-Milking

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Eleven Pipers Piping

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1949-THE-TWELVE-DAYS-OF-CHRISTMAS-Ilonka-Karasz-HBDJ-/291628406356?hash=item43e6685654%3Ag%3AzBUAAOSw42JWDVfm&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas dust wrapper

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Note:  Click the links for further blog reading on Ilonka Karasz, Christmas, and children's books.

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Booked for a Knight

I'm always wary when something is described as being an original book illustration, yet the name of the book isn't mentioned. A well-known artist such as Hilary Knight, the celebrated illustrator of the Eloise books, should have book print runs in the many thousands, so exactly how obscure can the illustrated book containing this image be? Or is this rather an intended book illustration that, for whatever reason, was never to be published? This lot was offered at Illustration House in their December 10 sale.

	Δ Lot 67	Hilary Knight						b.1926
		Mother reading to children; child winking.
		Book illustration; Watercolor and pencils, 10 x 16.5" in two scenes, signed lower left
		Estimate: $3,000 - 5,000
		Condition - Fine overall: archivally matted and framed.

Δ Lot 67

Hilary Knight

b.1926

Mother reading to children; child winking.

Book illustration;
Watercolor and pencils, 10 x 16.5" in two scenes, signed lower left

Estimate: $3,000 - 5,000

Condition - Fine overall: archivally matted and framed.

December 30, 2011 Update:   Reader Kellie Strøm writes in today's comments section that Hilary Knight has a predilection for archway compositions on his book covers. He presents these two examples:

Hilary Knight, The Jeremy Mouse Book, 1969

Hilary Knight, The Twelve Days of Christmas, 1981

I find this a persuasive argument that this book illustration was, in all likelihood, intended as a book cover. That would make the idyllic drawing of the swing the book's front cover and the impish lone winking child the back cover.






Note:  Hilary Knight's poster featuring Eloise for New York is Book Country is in my post here.

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