Hugh Hefner's Copy of Fornicon by Tomi Ungerer

Tomi Ungerer's Fornicon (1969) has not become less disturbing in the fifty years since its unlikely publication. It's precisely-imagined depictions of mechanized genital stimulation may even have gained some new resonance in our own deeply-troubled age saturated in impersonal internet pornography. This is not a book I've ever desired to own, not even in my sexually-curious youth, but if I were going to conceal a copy in my personal library I don't think I could find a more apt one than that belonging to Playboy magazine's founder and publisher Hugh Hefner. It's actually from the limited edition of 500—five-hundred!—signed and numbered, but not personalized. Still, with the link between illustrator and publisher it's quite an association copy. Frankly, it's hard to see from Fornicon how Hefner made use of Ungerer's esthetic in his magazine depicting "the girl next door," but Ungerer was certainly capable of producing a wide variety of images, a great many of which could be safely mass-marketed.

The first eBay photograph is one I could never have imagined: Hugh Hefner's copy of Fornicon displayed atop Senator John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage!

For the record, I could never have imagined the remainder of the eBay photographs either.

Tomi Ungerer
eBay Listing Retrieved June 24, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tomi-Ungerer-FORNICON-Signed-1st-Edition-1970/202637422523?hash=item2f2e21afbb:g:26MAAOSw3AFcnApU

Tomi Ungerer
eBay Item Description

N-gram:  Hugh Hefner and Tomi Ungerer

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Hugh Hefner

Limited Editions

Attempted Bloggery's Booksmart Index

02966

Hugh Hefner's Copy of ffundamental ffolkes

The first book signed and inscribed by cartoonist Michael ffolkes (1925-1988) ever to appear on this blog comes from the library of Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner. Playboy published ffolkes's work regularly. The 1985 paperback, ffundamental ffolkes, is subtitled An Autobiography. On the basis of the cover illustration, it appears to be an unusual one. Ffolkes was the pen name of Brian Davis. Perhaps inevitably, the inscription begins, "ffor Hef..."

Michael ffolkes
eBay Listing Retrieved June 21, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Michael-ffolkes-FFUNDAMENTAL-FFOLKES-An-Autobiography-Signed-1st-Edition-1985/202634714111?hash=item2f2df85bff:g:4hEAAOSwp~VccJSL

Michael ffolkes
eBay Item Description

Michael who? Compared with "Hef," the cartoonist barely registers on Google's n-gram viewer.

N-gram:  Michael ffolkes and Hugh Hefner

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Michael ffolkes

Signed Books

Attempted Bloggery's Ffolksy Index

02963

Hugh Hefner's Copy of Peter Arno's Hullabaloo

Hugh Hefner was only four years old when Peter Arno's Hullabaloo was published in 1930. Hefner, a cartoonist himself, eventually became a fan of Arno's and apparently hoped to recruit him as a Playboy cartoonist. Hefner's copy of the book lacks a dust jacket and may very well have been acquired second-hand. It is signed by Hefner with a sketch of a cartoon head which we are told is his "caricature self portrait." The $920 eBay price tag may prove palatable to admirers of Hefner and his magazine, especially if mitigated with the Make Offer option. It is less likely to appeal to fans of Peter Arno.

Peter Arno
eBay listing retrieved June 20, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Peter-Arnos-HULLABALOO-1930/202634685538?hash=item2f2df7ec62:g:V~kAAOSw91pccF1I&frcectupt=true

Peter Arno
eBay Item Description

N-Gram:  Peter Arno and Hugh Hefner

April 12, 2026 Update:  The new owner of this book writes about it here.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Peter Arno

Signed Books with Sketches

Attempted Bloggery's Dreamlike Index

02962

Hugh Hefner's Copy of The Dreamer by Will Eisner

Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner may not have gotten to publish cartoonist Will Eisner, but nevertheless he was an avowed fan of The Spirit. Eisner appears willing to indulge the magazine publisher with an inscribed copy of his 1986 graphic novella The Dreamer.

Will Eisner
Royal Books Listing Retrieved June 20, 2019

https://www.royalbooks.com/pages/books/145371/will-eisner/the-dreamer-first-edition-inscribed-to-hugh-hefner

N-Gram:  Will Eisner and Hugh Hefner

N-gram added June 21, 2019

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Will Eisner

Signed Books

Attempted Bloggery's Dreamlike Index

02961

My Copy of Menasseh ben Israel by Steven Nadler

Years after reading his book Rembrandt's Jews (2003), I finally got to meet Dr. Steven Nadler and hear the professor of philosophy discuss his new biography Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi of Amsterdam (2018). Dr. Nadler, an expert on the Jewish community of 17th century Amsterdam, signed and inscribed my copy of his most recent book.

Menasseh ben Israel and Baruch Spinoza, Jews of 17th century Amsterdam
Google N-Gram

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Steven Nadler

Signed Books

Attempted Bloggery's Like-Minded Index

02875

George Price: Impregnable

A work of original New Yorker art from 1989 by George Price depicts a wife's appreciation of her befuddled husband's qualities even while he's attired in a ridiculous getup that very nearly defies explanation. The art comes professionally framed and ready for display, yet this little gem had to be offered four times on eBay before generating two bids. Originally offered at a Buy It Now price of $600 or an opening bid of $400, it did not receive any bids until the opening price was reduced to an anemic $200. It sold for $293.99 plus $50 shipping, a bargain.

"Impregnable, yes, but not afraid to stop and smell the flowers."
George Price
Framed original art
The New Yorker, September 4, 1989, page 34

Large detail

Detail

Detail

Caption:  "Impregnable, yes, but not afraid to stop and smell the flowers."

George Price's signature

"Impregnable, yes, but not afraid to stop and smell the flowers."
George Price
Framed original art
The New Yorker, September 4, 1989, page 34

George Price
eBay Listing Ended February 10, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/George-Price-New-Yorker-Magazine-1989-Original-Hand-Drawn-Cartoon-/273684578874?hash=item3fb8df423a%3Ag%3AvaEAAOSwWUBcQL2z&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

George Price
eBay Item Description 

George Price
eBay Bid History
Two bids a full week apart:  this time the early one gets it

"Impregnable, yes, but not afraid to stop and smell the flowers."
George Price
Framed original art
The New Yorker, September 4, 1989, page 34

Cartoons by George Price and Anthony Taber

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1989-09-04#folio=034

Does one stop and smell the flowers or the roses?

Google N-Gram

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph

Note:  There's room for more original art by George Price on Attempted Bloggery. To have your scans and photos considered for potential inclusion in a future post, please send them to the management.

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George Price

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

St. Patrick's Day

Attempted Bloggery's Armed and Dangerous Index

02864

New Yorker N-Grams

The Google Books Ngram Viewer allows for the quantitative display of specific names and phrases that have appeared in print and been scanned by Google Books in publications from prior to 2008. Now that Bob Mankoff has retired as cartoon editor at the New Yorker and Emma Allen has taken over, let's take a look at some n-grams reflecting the magazine's rich history, starting with those people like Mr. Mankoff and Ms. Allen who headed up the cartoon department.

The New Yorker's Art Editors and Cartoon Editors

Rea Irvin, who dominates this n-gram, came of age in the golden era of print. His overall book citations outweigh the later art editors. Note that James Geraghty and Françoise Mouly were never published artists and therefore may have fewer appearances in print than the others. Indeed, Mr. Geraghty published little if anything under his own name. (Emma Allen came on the scene too recently to appear in the n-gram, which only goes up to 2008.)

Next, let's look at the magazine's editors:

The New Yorker's Editors
Harold Ross, 1925-1951
William Shawn, 1952-1987
Robert Gottlieb, 1987-1992
Tina Brown, 1992-1998
David Remnick, 1998-

Founding editor Harold Ross's appearances in print were numerous and continued well after his death in 1951. Note that his successor William Shawn was the most publicity-averse of the magazine's editors.

 Up next are seven major cartoonists:

Seven Major Cartoonists:  Charles Addams, Peter Arno, Rea Irvin, Otto Soglow, William Steig, Saul Steinberg, and Gluyas Williams
Saul Steinberg's impressive numbers may reflect his acceptance by the fine arts community. (It seems doubtful that his results have been skewed by the financier Saul Steinberg.)

And what if we were to add one more major cartoonist?

Adding James Thurber as an eighth major cartoonist transforms the scale of the graph, apparently because of his outsized literary output.

On the other hand, there are no problems of scale when James Thurber is compared with his one-time New Yorker office-mate E. B. White. In 1929, the two co-authored Is Sex Necessary? (If you don't know the answer, you'll have to read the book.)

Coauthors of Is Sex Necessary?, 1929
Cartoonist and humorist James Thurber and essayist E. B. White are lock-step in their trajectories.

Now let's have some fun with this tool:

Five New Yorker Writers Named John

Father and son:

Editor William Shawn and his son, writer and actor Wallace Shawn

A married couple:

Husband and wife cartoonists Alan Dunn and Mary Petty peak in different decades.

Film critic Pauline Kael and staff writer Renata Adler, who famously criticized Kael in the New York Review of Books:

Film critic Pauline Kael and Pauline Kael critic Renata Adler

Authors who wrote about "The Last Days of The New Yorker."

The Pessimists
Gigi Mahon, author of The Last Days of The New Yorker, 1988
Renata Adler, author of Gone:  The Last Days of The New Yorker, 1999

Authors who brought alarming threats to public attention:

The Alarmists
John Hersey, author of Hiroshima, 1946
Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, 1962
Jonathan Schell, author of The Fate of the Earth, 1982

Four European favorite artists:

Four Major Postwar European Illustrators

Bob Mankoff's old home and his new home:

Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff's old and new homes in the magazine world

Note:  Go ahead. Make your own Google Ngrams here. Why should I have all the fun?


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Harold Ross

Rea Irvin

James Geraghty

Lee Lorenz

Françoise Mouly

Bob Mankoff

Emma Allen

The New Yorker

Attempted Bloggery's Innumerate Index

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