Lucretia J. Weed's Copy of Rehearsal's Off! by George Booth

New Yorker cartoonist George Booth presented many a friend with souvenir sketches of dogs or cats in corners. But, for Lucretia J. Weed, in her copy of his second collection, he drew a "Cat near but not in corner." The precision is laudable.

Cat near but not in corner.
George Booth

As an added bonus, there's a clipping from the Wall Street Journal of April 11, 1980 and another article documenting a visit to the artist with an interview. Both were kept folded inside the book, which is his 1976 collection Rehearsal's Off!

The elephant in the room—or, rather, the corner—is that the newspaper clipping was folded and kept against the inscription and drawing. The unfortunate result, after many years, is that the newsprint left a rectangular stain right on the prized part of the book.

Cat near but not in corner.
George Booth

Half-title page

Title page

This will be on the exam:

"Do you have a dinner jacket, sir?"

George Booth
eBay listing ended March 8, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405533280915?_skw=rehearsal%27s+off+george+booth&itmmeta=01JP1F91A2DWT2QEK96Z391XTH&hash=item5e6baaca93:g:CjMAAOSwuEVnqO1F&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABAFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1emm82JBTMywLDjSbWZMCwDFAN8dWAOxGBjjbdUvZTc%2BqQtm2bq77VZmBx2O%2BSkB9%2FvgvZbHvmSAlxBZPzDwZZGSS8xEa0rYZsrQlA

Vm2yva0gz67QD6HbIZFVEbkTlqbV4bLcvyhI4S56XKo%2FQc5dTBDcvr99NkdnlitA8jwn0IefG9SrrU0KZzeXQx0J6C7HAlbd93spHFLE1JcqH27K5JoIujEZkR1%2BdfMMO7gKEcmUFbAD9vKyar4ughEpD1wq7iv1ULMYoJvGrxjtCFZHb3nZWg1ibZ4mXpj7XV9iGBsPDBbE14Ws1%2FNEKHhF4mgQ%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9CVpK-wZQ

George Booth
eBay item description

Note:  Who doesn't love to discover a new George Booth drawing? If you've got one you'd like to share here on the blog, please send some images my way.

04903

John Colquhoun's Copy of The Art in Cartooning

Cartoonist and illustrator John Colquhoun has come through for us with photographs of his own copy of The Art in Cartooning (1975).

The Closed Mind
Charles Saxon
The Art in Cartooning:  Seventy-five Years of American Magazine Cartoons
The Cartoonists Guild, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975

This book was personalized for him by eight top cartoonists at a New York City Barnes & Noble signing, he recollects. Six of these cartoonists we've already seen draw in at least one other copy of this book; they are George Booth, Sam Gross, Paul Peter Porges, Gahan Wilson, Bill Woodman, and Jack Ziegler.The other two cartoonists, Lou Myers and Mike Witte, we have not previously seen draw in copies of this or indeed of any cartoon book. In fact, it seems this New York signing event is new to us, one we haven't encountered with the previous four copies of this book to be noted on the blog, a signing apparently without cartoonists Dana Fradon and Marvin Tannenberg, and without editors Ed Fisher, Mort Gerberg, and Ron Wolin.

Paul Peter Porges and Sam Gross
Lou Myers and Bill Wooodman

Four cartoonists draw on the front free endpaper. Porges and Woodman play with other meanings of John's name, Gross plays a cat and mouse game, while Myers plays at sketching, one would guess, the book's recipient.

Then three cartoonists—Witte, Ziegler, and Booth—pick up the theme of corners. John does not remember who started it, but he knows it was not his own suggestion.

Mike Witte

Jack Ziegler and George Booth

Finally, Wilson embellishes the book with a footloose self-portrait, perhaps, popping a soccer ball. All this for just $14.95! Then as now, you have to know where to go.

"Oops!"
"All best to John
Gahan Wilson"

Note:  My thanks to John Colquhoun for sharing his wonderful copy of this book. 

This is the fifth copy of The Art in Cartooning we have seen signed, inscribed, and sketched in by multiple cartoonists. It is the first evidence we have of a second book signing, one held in New York.

Additional personalized copies of this book are avidly sought here for potential inclusion in future blog posts.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

The Art in Cartooning
George Booth

(Ed Fisher)

(Dana Fradon)

(Mort Gerberg)

Sam Gross

Lou Myers

Charles Saxon (Cover Artist)

(Marvin Tannenberg)

Gahan Wilson

Michael Witte

(Ron Wolin)

Bill Woodman 

Jack Ziegler

Signed Books with Original Drawings

Attempted Bloggery's Footloose and Fancy-Free Index

03358