Ronald Searle's Complete Published Works?

Somebody did a very thorough job collecting the published books of Ronald Searle. Forum Auctions, which offered the set yesterday, called the approximately two hundred volumes "The Complete Works of Ronald Searle" to which I might add only "or very nearly" out of an abundance of caution.

But rather than quibble, let's pause to admire the condition of all these books in their lovely dust jackets, the inclusion of some different editions—English, American, French, German—and the books by various authors whom Searle illustrated.

In addition, at least three of the books were personally inscribed by Searle. The most impressive of these, no doubt, is David Arkell's copy of Ronald Searle's Big Fat Cat Book (1982) inscribed in October of that year to his long-time journalist friend with a classic Searle cat.

The London auction house's presale estimate was 6,000-8,000 GBP, with bidding starting at 5,000 GBP.

Ronald Searle
Forum Auctions listing accessed March 13, 2026

khttps://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Searle-Ronald-.-Collection-of-the-Complete-Work-305-c-E975213429?utm_term=ronald%20searle&utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=430028&utm_term=430028

Ronald Searle

Forum Auctions item description

Alas, no sale.

April 12, 2026 Update:  These books failed to sell at auction and were subsequently listed on AbeBooks by Picture This Gallery of Sunningdale, UK, with additional images. On the one hand, the asking price is considerably greater than the high estimate at auction. On the other hand, there is no buyer's premium to contend with. It remains an extraordinary collection.

Ronald Searle
AbeBooks listing accessed April 12, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Complete-Collection-works-Ronald-Searle-almost/32419760686/bd

Ronald Searle
AbeBooks item description

05231

Gloria and Arthur's Copy of Paris Sketchbook by Ronald Searle and Kaye Webb

Paris Sketchbook (1950) is a husband-and-wife collaboration between English artist Ronald Searle and writer Kaye Webb. The very special copy which once belonged to the couple Gloria and Arthur has been offered for sale on the AbeBooks website since July of 2023. Recently, it found a buyer. Whoever the pair may have been, these recipients were lucky enough to have the book signed by both creators with the addition of a small sketch, by Searle, of a Frenchman. Although the book was first published in 1950, this edition is apparently from 1953 and it was presented to Gloria and Arthur in November of 1954.

Sold!

Ronald Searle
AbeBooks listing recently ended

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Paris-Sketchbook-SIGNED-Doodle-Ronald-Searle/31565330908/bd

05083

Midge and John Locke's Copy of The Square Egg by Ronald Searle

When Ronald Searle came to New York in February of 1969, he visited his friend the agent John Locke as well as his wife Midge. Searle must have taken down from the shelf one of Locke's copies of the U.K. edition of his latest collection, The Square Egg (1968) and inscribed and decorated it specially for the couple. The resulting ink and watercolor drawing is on the front free endpaper of the book and it's a beauty. It depicts a bird with eggs in multiple uncomfortable shapes and is dated "5 February 1969." I don't believe it was on the market previously. It was sold at auction yesterday.

"For Midge
&
John [Locke]
with love
New York
5 February 1969
Ronald"

The dust cover of the British edition has a drawing which makes good use of a rubber stamp.

Ronald Searle's printed signature on the cover

"For Midge
&
John [Locke]
with love
New York
5 February 1969
Ronald"

Online bidding opened at $25. Surely a teaser.

Ronald Searle
Live Auctioneers listing accessed September 13, 2025, three days before the sale

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/212727283_ronald-searle-signed-the-square-egg-1968-astoria-ny

I was reminded that presale bidding on the Live Auctioneers site does not have to reflect what is going on at the auctioneer's own site, and vice versa. It's good to check both. A much different story was unfolding on the Showplace website, where bidding was already up to one-hundred times the opening bid a full three days before the auction:

Ronald Searle
Live Auctioneers item description

And that's where the bidding stayed. The enthusiasm was palpable for a Searle book drawing. For the price to reach $2,500—one hundred times the opening bid!—with a 25% buyer's premium ($625), at least two bidders must have really wanted it. I hope it went to an avid collector, but I suspect the book was won by a dealer who may possibly separate the drawing from the book and offer it for sale at double the price. Such is often the fate of drawings by cartoonists with few available high quality works on the market and a strong fanbase.

Sold!

Searle used a very similar idea, but no color, in the drawing for his secretary Jean Ellsmoor's copy of the book in October 1968. The Lockes, of course, would never have seen this. In my post of March 1, 2022, I wrote, "It is, I believe, the quintessential example of a personalized copy of The Square Egg." The drawing is very fine indeed, but I now wish to retract my earlier statement.

"Well—let's hope that this
mixture turns out to
be the right shape.
To Jean [Ellsmoor] with love
from
Ronald
October 1968."

Note:  Over the years, I have posted images from a goodly number of Ronald Searle books with original drawings. They await your approval in the archives here.

05066

Pierre Daninos and Marie-Pierre Dourneau's Copy of Merry England, Etc., by Ronald Searle

Pierre Daninos (1913-2005) wrote humorous pieces for the French periodical Le Figaro Littéraire. He created the uncannily popular character Major Thompson, the quintessential embodiment of the Englishman abroad in France, cane steadfastly grasped in hand and newspaper tucked under his arm. Daninos's writings were collected in a series of highly successful books. Ronald Searle (1920-2011) was one of the artists to illustrate the Major.

Merry England, Etc., is Searle's consummately British cartoon collection published in 1956. On November 12, 1971, he and his wife Monica dedicated a copy of the fifteen-year-old book to Daninos and his wife, Marie-Pierre Dourneau (1931-2016). This book has an original Searle watercolor drawing of the very properly attired Major Thompson encountering a flamboyant example of the hippie culture of the 1970's. Searle sagely writes, "England has changed a little since the fifties—and this book . . ."

An original illustration by Searle for one of Daninos's 1955 pieces in Le Figaro depicts the Major looking distinctly out of place even in London. It was auctioned by Christie's in 2000.

Perdu dans le Labyrinthe Londonien . . . 

Ronald Searle

Le Figaro, February 18, 1955

https://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/2016/04/figaro.html

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1971026

Another fine Searle version of the Major, noticeably taller and thinner, appears on the cover of Les derniers carnets du Major Thompson (2000). His physical appearance is quite fluid.

https://www.amazon.com/Derniers-Carnets-Major-T
hompson-French/dp/2259193730

Meanwhile, Searle's hippie in the Daninos book is sartorially related to the one on the cover of The New Yorker from earlier that year.

Note:  I am indebted to the owner of this book for offering these images to me on a silver platter, as it were. Other collectors in possession of such unpublished works by Ronald Searle may similarly incur my debt and gratitude by sending along crisp, clean images suitable for blogging.

You may not be aware that my friend David from Manhattan has shared with us actor James Mason's copy of this very book here.

James Kirkup of the Independent composed an erudite obituary of Pierre Daninos here back in 2005. It is a very British summing up of the writer and his Major Thompson pieces.

Try as I might to give Searle his due in these posts, there is nothing I can hobble together that is in the league of Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog sublimely curated by Matt Jones. He even covers Searle's work for Le Figaro here. It should be plain that I've borrowed from his post and at other times he's borrowed from my blog, so it's all very symbiotic really.

04538

Marcelle Methlin's Copy of Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec by Ronald Searle

Ronald Searle published Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec in 1969. The book reproduces a fanciful series of drawings and lithographs which depict the diminutive artist and his scantily-clad models in the brothels of Paris. It's safe to say this cartoon book is unlike anything else Searle created. It's unlike anything else, period.

Marcelle Methlin of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts in Paris provided Searle with fine food and drink, and Searle in turn provided him, presumably the Marcelle in the dedication below, with outstanding personalized copies of his books. They're on a first-name basis, of course. It is Christmas of 1969. Searle adds a full length ink drawing of his Toulouse. The dedication "Pour Marcelle with love" neatly covers two languages.

Four smaller lithographs of Toulouse-Lautrec in portrait orientation were included with a limited edition of the book and are not too difficult to find today, coming from an edition size of 200. The larger suite of lithographs, those in landscape orientation like the book's cover, suffered a different fate. Most of the portfolio edition of 70 seems to have disappeared, as told to me by Searle's agent John Locke. At any rate, Searle was unable to determine what became of them. He had only a small number of the artist's proofs remaining in his possession, full suites of which he put on the market for $10,000.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended September 24, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124015197989?hash=item1cdfe1bf25:g:M5MAAOSwMLtd3mf8&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0P3%2BpCrzAg1QEUIx8ZEAiziSgGGK57qF%2FkJ0iGzxEBVGGzOdnxJkNZTrxW5zdb9h%2BmPjPOTwIbN5Ndftg%2F7xM5dcCWLot633TPfLR7UV3ISKe90syX75xHTxk

iw%2BT2XXFB8pfc0jNWNPFWfde11kfzHGCt73eaa2nENOsYIStypnoWK%2FeOBxROxONwZyHEfwRH0my9wTHbsGZWT1S2M%2BGVotZIl%2BxcYlYQQTQyfhvbnPY0OUMHlVl5zEEP%2FPB47Ry4I%2FL%2BWk76TfNwOLaLhPh1s%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4i--q3pYg

Sold for a best offer of 1,500 Euros

I asked the eBay seller for any additional information he might have about these three extraordinary books from the library of Marcelle. The seller knew nothing of Marcelle. He reported that the books turned up at a flea market in Paris five years ago. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Note:  I might as well add this to my virtual collection of "best copies." If you know of a contender, by all means send me some images. This blog, rumor has it, is always eager to show outstanding work by Ronald Searle, including personalized copies of his books.

"Bohème," you will recall, is Matt Jones's 2014 post for Perpetua, a.k.a. the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, complete with photographs of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts, now defunct. According to Matt, Marcelle Methlin hosted many cartoonists and satirists. I would like to hear from anyone with personal recollections or other books from his library.

As long as I brought it up, anyone knowing the whereabouts of the "lost" edition of Searle's Hommage à Toulouse-Lautrec portfolio of six lithographs should get in touch. As mentioned above, the suite of lithographs was published in horizontal orientation in an edition of 70. Those few individual prints that I do see online seem to have been distributed by the Ferdinand Roten Galleries of Baltimore. I do like looking for needles in haystacks. By the way, Matt Jones writes of "Toulouse Lautrec & the Whores of Hamburg" here.

04477