Old-Fashioned Christmas Greetings from John Held, Jr.

Many readers back in the 1920s or early '30s were familiar with the Jazz Age illustrations of John Held, Jr. Often they depicted flappers and the men who loved them tearing up the dance floor. Those readers also would have been similarly familiar with Held's woodblock print style, which gently poked fun at the staid ways of their 19th century forebears, that is to say, the previous generations. 

A 1931 page from Liberty magazine, via Rob Stolzer on Comic Art Fans, shows how deftly Held utilized these two very different and very wonderful styles to great effect:

Music Hath Charms
John Held, Jr.
Liberty, October 17, 1931

Scan by Rob Stolzer

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1667682

All of which is meant to serve as a preamble to a vintage Christmas card that turned up on eBay in Held's retro, woodcut style. It is time to gather round the punch bowl, ladies and gentlemen, and to celebrate the season. Let us offer Christmas greetings by raising a glass to all those present, and to that antiquated yet somehow forever-young style of Held's that today recalls our grandparents's grandparents. He frequently signed such art as if it were "engraved," or in this case just "Eng." Cheers!

John Held, Jr.
eBay listing accessed October 25, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/317423754615?_skw=john+held+jr&itmmeta=01K8DZNANNFRWH7QFFXNE3YPGX&hash=item49e7ee1d77:g:LLoAAeSwmENo7-Ry&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8IUNi59bckQcV2ImusJGAkGsA7vEDri1BBGgDcublvwsgqcDIcr3o1%2FlUFSjn0zl5PoF%2FJZMJmQogW2Fo8EuhoQ8l4K%2FNZ%2BtmPkNEhvrBfxsptOO950RB

UcKS%2BDwvKIHbgmChoNYGKZ8jC1n6%2BNu79MDzReMHDzO0rfjJvwOdNQW%2Bf3Si2m2IcbOOCOv19t78QGTD0pQr91E1XmrNZsfZ7Aywbf3jQTp64auKeLRHkhDo%2Bm0OWMyXSESujZMJaTcepkPFdHowqYEo%2BEnax%2FKYecguvccShOfgor3fkuafhbVfuz9Tz3FWEHseBXxEFjcMcA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Kr1b_DZg

John Held, Jr.
eBay item description

The card is as yet unsold, but its price is very slowly coming down.

Note:  My several posts depicting Christmas card art by John Held, Jr., in this "engraved" woodcut style may be seen here.

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Burt Britton's Copy of Instant Lives by Howard Moss With Drawings by Edward Gorey

Sometimes everything just comes together. David from Manhattan read my Saturday post about a rare copy of Phantasmagorey that was both signed and inscribed by the illustrator Edward Gorey. I had noted that it was the first inscribed Gorey book to appear on the blog and that as such it was no doubt scarce. David writes:

I must admit I hadn't thought of a Gorey book inscription as being rare, and if you had held a gun to my head, I couldn't tell you if the one signed Gorey book I own was inscribed. But it turns out it is, and to Burt Britton, book collector, dealer and celebrity portrait collector extraordinaire. Instant Lives by Howard Moss is a unique collection of humorous "essays" and "fictions" about various famous authors, artists, composers and performers with wittily staged mini biographies and the occasional parody. Gorey contributed 25 drawings and designed the front & back covers, the latter being nothing more than a wreath which floated from the front cover and might be Edward Gorey's most extreme example of minimalism in his drawings. There is no suggestion that Mr. Britton ever opened the book, other than to drop in the printed slips, a selling point that James Cummin's catalog listing chose not to mention, though it persuaded me to part with $125. I never met or caught a glimpse of Gorey, but I once had a casual deli meal with Howard Moss, poetry editor of The New Yorker, and a wonderful poet himself, when I was in college, and coincidentally a few weeks after Instant Lives was published.

Note:  My thanks to David from Manhattan for his years of reading my musings and so thoughtfully responding to them. The scans here are all his, of course. This is David's sixtieth contribution to this blog! The rest of you are just slackers.

I myself glimpsed Edward Gorey once or twice at the New York City Ballet but I never approached him. Furthermore, I never had deli with Howard Moss.

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #878

All seems ready for Christmas in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #878 from the issue of December 11, 2023—but then? What could this woman be saying as she dons the stockings? My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Amy Hwang.

"You'll have to hop."

December 30, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

January 13, 2024 Update:  I voted for the Perelmanesque caption from North Liberty.

January 15, 2024 Update:  The Winner

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