Cream Of Thurber
If you happen to look up Cream Of Thurber, a Hamish Hamilton (Thurber’s UK publisher) title that appears to have first shown up in 1939, you’re likely going to come across the book on the left. Altho I’ve had the opportunity to pick up the book a number of times in used bookstores it never made it out the door.* To this day, the Spill library doesn’t have a copy. Just the other day while poking around online, I came across the unusual edition shown above right. I’ve said it before: in all the years of looking for Thurber books I’ve never seen one of these before.
The seller (on AbeBooks) describes it (in part) this way:
For circulation to the Fighting Forces of the Allied Nations. This copy with the stamp of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) on the front cover and half-title page.
*Even though I love both covers, they’ll both remain way off in the distance as possible purchases. The reason I never bought the title probably has a lot to do with the contents (the following taken from the book jacket):
” Skimmed from the following writings and drawings of James Thurber: My Life and Hard Times, The Owl in the Attic, The Middle-aged Man on the Flying Trapeze, Let Your Mind Alone.”
As all of those books are in the Spill library (sometimes in multiple copies), I’d be buying the book just for the dust jacket, or just the paperback cover in the case of the “Services Edition.”
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David Borchart guests on The Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast
David Borchart joins two-out-of-three of the Cartoon Caption Contest Pod hosts, Beth Lawler and Paul Nesja in this latest episode.
Mr. Borchart began contributing his fine work to The New Yorker in 2007. You can listen here.
below, beginning clockwise top left: Paul Nesja, Beth Lawler, David Borchart
