Many many years ago, before I began holding onto every New Yorker-centric thing that came my way, I gave my first edition copy of Thurber’s 1939 classic, The Last Flower to a friend (the friend who showed me the very first Thurber drawing I’d ever seen). Over the years I stayed away from re-acquiring a first edition (I did acquire other Last Flower editions: paperbacks, a reproduction of the first, a Japanese edition, etc.). My odd thinking was: I had a first once, I didn’t need to buy another. Well, it always did sort of bug me that it was (I believe) the one Thurber title here at Spill headquarters that was not accounted for in its original state.
And so the other week, on a whim, I placed a bid on a first edition that showed up on a popular online auction site (gee, guess which one). Bidding started at $15.00 (about the price of four gallons of regular gas these days, so not a piggy bank breaker). I assumed (never assume!) I’d be outbid and that would be that. But no one else showed up as the virtual gavel fell. So finally, after decades, the book in its original edition, has come home to roost. It is, in all likelihood, my last Last Flower.
I’ve always enjoyed the story of The Last Flower. Burton Bernstein, who wrote the great Thurber: A Biography (Dodd/Mead, 1975) has a concise telling of how the book came about. Thurber and his wife, Helen, were ensconced at The Algonquin with Thurber (according to Helen) “depressed and shaken” by the beginning of WWII. Bernstein’s account (according to Helen) continues:
…he sat down at the writing desk in his room after dinner one night and started to draw some pictures in pencil. Inspiration must have been screaming into his right ear, for within a few hours he had an entire book sketched out in drawings and text…
The Last Flower is, for me (and probably most), right up there at the top of the list of greatest Thurber books. I’d put it at the top if I wasn’t so over the moon about The Thurber Carnival.
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Drew Dernavich makes his 3rd appearance on The Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast. Listen here. Mr. Dernavich began contributing to The New Yorker in 2002. Visit his website here.
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Book Launch Of Note: Hilary Campbell’s Murder Book
As you can see from the poster above right, there’ll be a (ticketed) launch party for Hilary Campbell’s Murder Book, out November 9th from Andrews McMeel. Ms. Campbell began contributing to The New Yorker in 2017. Visit her website here.
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(Yesterday’s) Daily Shouts: Another installment of Liana Finck’s “Dear Pepper” series. Ms. Finck began contributing to The New Yorker in 2013. Visit her website here.
(Yesterday’s) Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon: When nothing makes sense, from Yasin Osman, who began contributing to The New Yorker in March of this year. Visit his website here.