WONDERFULLY INSCRIBED WITH ORIGINAL CARTOONS BY SEVEN ICONIC NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS

(BOOTH, George) (GROSS, S.) (MARTIN, Henry) (MICHAUD, Roland) (MYERS, Lou) (TANNENBERG, Marvin) (WOODMAN, Bill) FISHER, Edwin, GERBERG, Mort and WOLIN, Ron, eds. The Art in Cartooning. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, (1975). Quarto, original black cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $3200.

First edition of this celebration of American cartooning, seldom found inscribed with original sketches by its contributors. This copy boasts large, whimsical original art by notable magazine cartoonists Henry Martin, Bill Woodman, Marvin Tannenberg, Sam Gross, Roland Michaud, Lou Meyers and George Booth. A delightful copy.

Celebrating the work of American cartoonists from the late 19th century through 1975, The Art in Cartooning collects over 300 examples of the form at its finest, drawn from the pages of The New Yorker and other magazines. Artists represented include Charles Addams, Peter Arno, Gahan Wilson, James Thurber, Rube Goldberg and many more.

All of the seven cartoonists who have inscribed this copy with delightful original work are represented in its pages, and most are best known for their contributions to The New Yorker. On the front pastedown, Henry Martin depicts one of the recipients painting a portrait of the other, while Bill Woodman draws them as roller skaters ("To a nice active couple… Best, Bill Woodman"). On the recto of the front free endpaper, Marvin Tannenberg draws a man nestled among his golf clubs saying, in a speech balloon, "Golf isn't everything to me either. Best, Tann"; S. Gross draws a large cat intently staring into a mousehole from which proceeds a speech balloon reading, "Sorry I can't come out, Jack. Give my regards to Betty"; and Roland Michaud pictures the recipients talking with a travel agent, all imagining different destinations in response to the request, "We're looking for a place that really swings!" Lou Meyers' sketch of an elderly couple pushing a baby carriage, highlighted in red ink and inscribed "for Betty & Jack" adorns the verso of the front free endpaper; opposite it, on the half title, is George Booth's sketch of a man's face, the eyes of which also form the wheels of an automobile above. Booth's autograph poem reads: "This little car is made of tin,/With here and there a rivet./It will run on gas, or tea, or gin/Or anything you give it./It climbs the mountains/And fords the brook/And this is how you'll get to look/If you should drive a flivver." Includes eight color plates.

Price-clipped dust jacket with light rubbing and soiling to spine. An about-fine inscribed copy of a book frequently found signed by some of its contributors, but rarely found with examples, let alone such wonderful ones, of their original work.