Now in its fifth year, The New Yorker’s Cartoons of the Year (2015 edition) is the latest entry in the magazine’s long tradition of gathering its drawings between two special edition covers (up until 2010 the covers were hard; since 2010 they’ve been soft). The Cartoons of the Year all differ from their hardcover predecessors in that they include special multi-page features, and advertisements. In 2007 through 2009, something called The Cartoon Yearbook was published.
The Yearbooks, large format hardcover books, were reminiscent of the cartoon Albums the magazine has published throughout its history, beginning with the first Album, in 1928. (I stacked the entire collection of those and photographed them a few years ago).
Here’s a complete list of the Albums, Yearbooks and Cartoons of the Year:
The New Yorker Album (1928)
The Second New Yorker Album (1929)
The Third New Yorker Album (1930)
The Fourth New Yorker Album (1931)
The Fifth New Yorker Album (1932)
The Sixth New Yorker Album (1933)
The Seventh New Yorker Album (1935)
The 1937 New Yorker Album
The 1940 New Yorker Album
The 1942 New Yorker Album
The New Yorker War Album (1942)
The New Yorker 25th Anniversary Album (1951)
The New Yorker Album 1950 -1955 * this edition contains color covers.
The New Yorker Album of Sports & Games (1958)
The New Yorker Album 1955- 1965
The New Yorker Album of Art & Artists (1970)
The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925 – 1975
The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1975 1985 *also published in paperback
*The Art of The New Yorker 1925 – 1995, by Lee Lorenz. Not an anthology, a history. In effect it replaced the publication of what would have been the magazine’s 70th Anniversary Album.
The New Yorker 75th anniversary Cartoon Collection !925 - 2000
The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker (2004) Includes two discs.
The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker (paperback, slightly updated version of the 2004 edition. Includes one disc) (2006)
The New Yorker Cartoon Yearbook 2007
The New Yorker Cartoon Yearbook 2008
The New Yorker Cartoon Yearbook 2009
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2010
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2011
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2012
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2013
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2014
The New Yorker 90th Anniversary Book of Cartoons (2015) (Not a book, but a magazine, or what is sometimes referred to as a “bookazine.”)
The New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2015
Note: to see scans of the Album covers (and one of the Yearbooks, but not the Cartoons of the Year), visit Chris Wheeler’s great site .
I like the Cartoons of the Year annuals, but they could certainly make them easier to buy. Here in Europe I don’t think you can get them at all, unless you want to pay $22 or more in postage to have an American eBay seller send them to you – if you can even find them on eBay. I missed last year’s issue because by the time I remembered to look for it, it wasn’t to be had, or only at an exorbitant price plus exorbitant postage. I wish The New Yorker, Condé Nast, or whoever, would make them available on Amazon, including Amazon’s UK, Germany, and France sites. As far as that goes, why don’t they?