The New Yorker's "Blowhard" Issue Signed by Donald Trump

For anyone who has ever wondered whether Donald Trump would personally sign a copy of The New Yorker of August 28, 2017, the issue featuring David Plunkert's "Blowhard" cover, the answer is yes. The cover was published after a horrific episode of white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, when the president infamously commented at a press conference that "you also had people that were very fine people on both sides." The illustration depicts Trump sitting aft in a sailboat. He is blasting air in order to inflate a white sail with eye holes that visually transform it into a Klansman's hood. The American Society of Magazine Editors named Plunkert's New Yorker cover, his first, their Cover of the Year.

The autographed cover, with Trump's zigzag of a signature and retaining the subscription mailing label, even, was sold on eBay late last year. There probably aren't too many of these out there.

Donald Trump
eBay listing ended December 28, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165830142796hash=item269c3f2b4c%3Ag%3A3EsAAOSwy6ljl6Qd&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4A49MSUUZVx%2FPENggoCXtgYJpeLSbAzRqniAM2EBTsGUB2BkwyTnUXSR1vRxEsIQOvF8ag3kpSwsJR0xDojLqFnvCe91gFfITOwlraAcbyUd7iQWvDgPlJdhWI25pYsU1X3%2BGGr8Q9%2BDJjs6eFDflNtSRSUHDxb9SUSmlZV%2BNgbhKhixtgGtnTJyzL0nqOb

KY0lzf4%2FbRTVfT%2F1kcQDzidofpCmGa6m5A5%2BXQhiIA0YbgQvUqxyI6VxuoHCC9rZtHgNB4Eb4u4GPkdetSmcsWU105A7cL%2BiQSY0FbMOtRRAc%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5r7p5jiYQ&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Donald Trump
eBay item description

The unsigned, award-winning magazine cover:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/2017-08-28

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The New Yorker's "Fist Bump" Issue Signed by Barack Obama

For anyone who has ever wondered whether 2008 Presidential candidate Barack Obama would personally sign a copy of The New Yorker of July 21, 2008, the issue featuring Barry Blitt's notorious "Fist Bump" cover, the answer is yes. The cover depicts Obama wearing Muslim attire while his wife Michelle appears as a radical extremist. The American flag burns in the fireplace. Probably you already know the whole story. If you're coming upon this image with fresh eyes, see if you can divine the liberal magazine's political intentions. I'd happily explain it, but who really needs to have a magazine cover illustration explained?

The signed cover, presumably quite a rarity, was sold on eBay in 2017.

The New Yorker's "Fist Bump" Issue Signed by Barack Obama
eBay listing ended April 21, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barack-Obama-Signed-with-PSA-match-PROOF-The-New-Yorker-Magazine-Autographed-/332187503645?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

The New Yorker's "Fist Bump" Issue Signed by Barack Obama
eBay Bid History
Just one bid

Note:  Again, I don't feel any personal obligation to defend or explain this cover art. That's New Yorker editor David Remnick's job and before the issue hit the newsstands he offered some preemptive damage control in an interview with the Washington Post. His words were subsequently quoted in the Guardian here. Suffice it to say both the Obama and the McCain campaigns condemned this cover, a rare point of bipartisan agreement.

Here's the cover as most of us have seen it, without Obama's signature:

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2008-07-21/flipbook/C1/

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Encores: The New Yorkers Autographed Playbill

Cole Porter's musical "The New Yorkers" opened on Broadway in 1930 and ran for 168 performances. The book was by Herbert Fields based on a concept by New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno and by E. Roy Goetz. No doubt Arno's involvement was publicized by way of the musical's title. In addition to Porter's songs, star Jimmy Durante wrote five songs for himself, an interesting collaboration.

Revivals have been infrequent and the musical is not widely known today, although some of the individual songs may still be familiar. In March of 2017, the show was staged in a concert performance at City Center as part of the Encores! series. A Playbill signed by much or all of the cast was sold on eBay soon after.
 

The New Yorkers
eBay Listing Ended April 1, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Encores-The-New-Yorkers-Autographed-Playbill-ONLY-ONE-/122414723454?hash=item1c807c717e%3Ag%3AZ0kAAOSw2gxY1guz&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The New Yorkers
eBay item description

Cole Porter's "The New Yorkers" at New York City Center Encores!

"I Happen to Like New York"

"Night and Day"

"Love For Sale"

04071

A Time Magazine Cover Signed by James Thurber

A copy of Time magazine with James Thurber's inscription and signature on the July 9, 1951 cover shows his hand to be sadly shaky and unsure in the extreme. His failed vision surely was responsible for this. His self-portrait with dogs is endearing enough, but just think of what he could have done with this space a mere decade earlier! Time's editors outdid themselves with the headline "James Thurber: A Sure Grasp of Confusion."

Time, July 9, 1951
Signed by James Thurber

James Thurber
eBay Listing Retrieved January 10, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAMES-G-THURBER-INSCRIBED-MAGAZINE-COVER-SIGNED/283064033019?hash=item41e7ee5efb:g:ZfgAAOSwrLZbUObn:rk:7:pf:0

James Thurber
eBay Item Description

Note:  At press time this signed magazine cover is still available on eBay and Amazon. Only the eBay listing has the Make Offer option.


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A New Yorker Cover Signed by Art Spiegelman

An Art Spiegelman-signed newsstand copy of The New Yorker bears his provocative if unorthodox Valentine's Day cover of 1993. The magazine was sold for an undisclosed Best Offer price on eBay last year.

The New Yorker, February 15, 1993
Signed by Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman's signature

Art Spiegelman
eBay Listing Ended February 2, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-Art-Spiegelman-New-Yorker-Magazine-Valentine-039-s-Day-February-15-1993-/112289524973?hash=item1a24fa2ced%3Ag%3AsSgAAOSwwpdW7vMT&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Art Spiegelman
eBay Item Description

Note:  Attempted Bloggery encourages its romantic readers to celebrate Valentine's Day by sending not candy but scans or photographs of original art by Art Spiegelman. That's how we roll here.

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02455

Danny Shanahan: Shark Week

Danny Shanahan reminds us that we have more to worry about this week than just the rising seas. He has embellished his New Yorker cover of March 7, 2016 with an original sketch of another well-known desert island hazard. Does anyone need reminding that it is, after all, Shark Week?

eBay Listing Ended June 18, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Signed-Original-Drawing-Danny-Shanahan-New-Yorker-Magazine-March-7-2016-/272271254352?hash=item3f64a1a350%3Ag%3A4B8AAOSwOVpXXFVf&nma=true&si=MY%252BVlM1DDf4MNMNGGnCdh3m%252FHQQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

eBay Item Description

eBay Bid History
Three bids. The last one gets it.

Note:  This is the first signed magazine cover with an original drawing to appear on this blog. Is it really such a rare thing? 

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The New Yorker Signed by Derek Jeter

So here's a little tip from an eBay seller on how to obtain strikingly unique baseball memorabilia. While a star like Derek Jeter is waiting in line at a Starbuck's in Oakland, say, before a baseball game early in the 2007 season, simply approach him and whip out your recent subscription copy of the New Yorker and ask him to sign it. Why not use the issue with a cover by Bruce McCall, say, the one commemorating the opening of the baseball season in New York, a city blessed, as we see, with not one but two Major League baseball teams? In retrospect, it sounds so simple! By all means bring your baseball gloves to the game, people, but first why not carry a stack of appropriately-themed magazines to your local Starbucks and look for ballplayers?

Bruce McCall, The New Yorker, April 2, 2007 signed by Derek Jeter, left, and a ticket to the ball game, right

Derek Jeter's signature

Derek Jeter
eBay Listing Ended December 26, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Derek-Jeter-Signed-NEW-YORKER-Magazine-with-Yankee-Cover-2007-ORIGINAL-/272499242932?hash=item3f723877b4%3Ag%3AT4UAAOSwA3dYYbd3&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Derek Jeter
eBay Item Description

eBay Bid History
One bid

Note:  The Yankees won, 4-3.


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