Ronald Searle: L'Apéritif

Yesterday in Monaco at L’Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo (HVMC), an ink and watercolor depiction of two cats seated at outdoor tables was sold at auction. The artist is Ronald Searle (1920-2011).

L'Apéritif (1974)
Ronald Searle

The cats, female and male, are seated at separate tables. The female cat is as yet unaware of the male cat's attention. On the right we see a rare instance in which Searle dressed one of his male cats in trousers and oxfords. The pants have no top and seem to be an organic part of the cat's crossed legs. The female cat is also endowed with recognizably human legs. They are shapely and end in high heels, not unlike the legs of Searle's Catahari or The Big Show. Most remarkably, though, Searle vividly endowed his cats with distinctive human personalities.

Catahari

Ronald Searle

https://www.flickr.com/photos/queenieandthedew/6580611779/in/photostream/

The Big Show
Ronald Searle

http://flickr.com/photos/queenieandthedew/6580591963

For those who couldn't be there in person, lots from the Monte Carlo sale were listed on the Invaluable website.

Ronald Searle
Invaluable listing accessed July 7, 2026

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ronald-searle-1920-2011-128-c-374b288f0a?objectID=205007728&algIndex=upcoming_lots_lotNumber_asc_prod&queryID=82d6a89f27f85dac7e0e706e280387eb

Bidding started at 1,000 Euros with an estimate of 1,000 to 1,500 Euros. The buyer's premium was 33%. There were other fees as well.

Ronald Searle
Invaluable item description

Searle's 1974 watercolor L'Apéritif was published as a postcard in 1977. Here's an example of both printed sides, as found on eBay:

L'Apéritif was later included in Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book (1982). No home should be without a copy.

The present work is from the collection of Yanou Collart, the well-connected publicist and actress. Or, as the auction house writes even more intriguingly, "Femme d'amour et femme d'affaires." 

https://www.hvmc.com/news-detail/32/yanou-collart-femme-d-amour-et-femme

Any friend of Sean Connery's is a friend of mine.

The lot was sold for the opening bid of 1,000 Euros:

05295

A Letter From Jean-Jacques Sempé to Angelo Rinaldi

A letter from the year 2000 consists of a mailing envelope and its contents: a signed and inscribed postcard as well as a signed and inscribed note with a drawing of three men seated in a restaurant. The group of papers is offered for sale by AbeBooks seller L'Ancienne Librairie and is priced at $1,672.78 US. No doubt that considerable cost is because the sender, Jean-Jacques Sempé, was the extremely popular cartoonist based in Paris. In addition, the recipient of the mailing, Angelo Rinaldi, was the French writer and literary critic who passed away in May of 2025. The envelope is addressed to Rinaldi care of his publisher L'Express and it appears to be appropriately stamped and postmarked.

The French listing has been rendered in English by Google Translate:

Jean-Jacques Sempé
AbeBooks listing accessed February 15, 2026, translated by Google

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Dessin-originale-sign%C3%A9-carte-postale-autographe/32390746684/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Jean-Jacques Sempé
AbeBooks item description, translated by Google

Note:  Any reader who was fortunate enough to be one of Sempé's correspondents is invited to share his missives on this blog.

05202

Announcing The Haunted Tea-Cosy by Edward Gorey

A 1998 postcard published by the Gotham Book Mart in New York announces Edward Gorey's holiday book The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas. Who could possibly have resisted?

Edward Gorey
AbeBooks listing accessed November 2, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Edward-Gorey-Haunted-Tea-Cosy-1998-Publication/32165530501/bd

Edward Gorey
AbeBooks item description

Note:  The item is still available from A&D Books at post time.

05153

Frank Kettlewell: A Future Cartoonist Needs His Mother, Now

David From Manhattan takes us on a rare visit to that place where postal history meets cartooning. He writes:

Frank "Ket" Kettlewell, born Benjamin Franklin (after his father), was a successful editorial cartoonist, cartographer, painter and photographer, who worked for the Oakland Tribune from 1912 until his death on June 11, 1969 at 79. His signature, "KET," usually included a tiny bird. 

But in Dec. 1905, "Frankie" as he signed himself then, had just turned 16, and was writing from his place of birth, St. Helena, Cal., to Mrs. B.F. Kettlewell--his mother, Libbie, who was visiting her father in San Francisco. Frank appears to have had an art lesson or two. On thin card he drew the front of the family house in light pencil, went over it with pen & ink, and applied watercolor. He then cut it carefully to postal card size, and glued it just as carefully to a 1¢ William McKinley card. Except for a subtle weight difference, it's not apparent. If caught, the post office applied a 1c penalty for anything mounted to a card, basically raising your cost to that of a first class letter. 

Frankie fooled them, but then this was not your typical teenager, though the message to his mother, who was away with his older brother Charles, was certainly from a 16-year-old, with a sign comically pinned to a modest St. Helena home, and a helpful arrow drawn at left: "WANTED A COOK AND DISHWASHER."

We don't know if Libbie took offense at her son's view of her status, but Mrs. Kettlewell, who lived until 1951, held on to the card and appears to have taken pretty good care of it. Frankie moved to San Francisco in 1906, shortly after the great quake to be with his grandfather, and ended up doing volunteer work while waiting, impatiently one imagines, for the city to rebuild its art school.

A selection from an archive of 30 Kettlewell drawings, ca. 1916-1935, can be found on-line at Geographicus Rare Antique Maps.

Note:  Thanks to David From Manhattan for educating me about a subject of which I am not very knowledgeable. This is his seventy-second contribution to the old blog.

05067

S. J. Perelman to Harvey Orkin and His Son Anthony

Two postcards from humorist S. J. Perelman have made their way onto the market via the estate of writer and talent agent Harvey Orkin (1918-1975). Orkin won an Emmy award for "You'll Never Get Rich" which starred Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko. The first postcard, chronologically, was sent in 1968 from Florence, Italy.

A 1974 postcard was mailed to Orkin's Fifth Avenue Columbia Pictures office from Sarasota, Florida.

Finally, a 1975 letter to Orkin's son Anthony V., here referred to as "Avo," is written locally on New Yorker magazine stationery. Perelman aims to share his love of words with the young man. Of note, he does not share his love of cheesecake postcards.

Each of these notes is priced at $180 on AbeBooks. (On eBay, they're $188.)

1.

S. J. Perelman
AbeBooks listing accessed September 9, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Humorous-Autograph-Postcard-Signed-Perelman/31967342352/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_lowk

2.

S. J. Perelman
AbeBooks listing accessed September 9, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Humorous-Autograph-Postcard-Signed-Perelman/31967337476/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

3.

S. J. Perelman
AbeBooks listing accessed September 9, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/paper-collectibles/Typed-Note-Signed-New-Yorker-Stationery/31967332880/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

June 28, 2025 Update:  The 1975 letter was cross-listed on eBay where it sold for a best offer.

Note:  Readers fortunate enough to be in possession of a postcard or letter from S. J. Perelman and who need a blog on which to have it posted know where to find me.

Can someone please start a Wikipedia page for Harvey Orkin? Or is that asking too much?

04741

Ronald Searle: C'est la vie

A neckless and nearly formless man strains to pull a cart bearing a large pig across a vast, desolate plain. The title gives it away. C'est la vie is Ronald Searle's humorous allegory of life itself. The 1975 original ink and watercolor drawing was sold in Frankfurt on November 25 for a ridiculously low 300 euros (and that was after the sale ended, I believe). That Moderne-Auktion crowd just didn't appreciate a good allegory.

Ronald Searle
Auktionshaus Arnold listing accessed November 16, 2023

https://www.auktionshaus-arnold.de/auktion/moderne-auktion-10/

A variant was exhibited in New York at the Nicholls Gallery in 1976. It appeared on a black and white postcard promoting the Searle show. The original art either has wash or some watercolor.

C'est la vie, 1975
Ronald Searle
Nicholls Gallery postcard, 1976

Note:  You know, I wouldn't mind receiving a good photograph of the Nicholls Gallery variant or of any other variants of C'est la vie that might be out there. Oh, who am I kidding? I'd love to see any Ronald Searle original art.

04515

George Booth: Five Postcards for Neiman Marcus

Five postcards by New Yorker cartoonist George Booth created in 1994 and 1995 promoted various sales at Neiman Marcus:  the trademarked First Call, the spring clearance, the summer sale, and the end of summer sale. Fortunately for us, one Northbrook, Illinois resident saved her postcards for reasons that should be obvious: the images are just delightful. Each of them have a Booth dog or two but there is also room for a rousing rooster and a musical cat. The postcards are currently listed on eBay.

Note:  I would love to post other George Booth promotions for Neiman Marcus right here on the old blog. Just send a few examples my way.

04350