A Good Book I discovered Joe Mitchell‘s delightful My Ears Are Bent when I was researching my biography of Peter Arno. All of the pieces were written when Mitchell was a newspaperman, before he joined The New Yorker in 1938. Of particular interest to Spill readers are Mr. Mitchell’s three pieces on three stellar New Yorker artists: William Steig, Helen
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New Yorker Cover Artist, Istvan Banyai: 1949-2022 The New York Times has reported the death of Istvan Banyai, who, contributed “more than a dozen” covers to The New Yorker, including the one shown here. The Times notes that Mr. Banyai died in mid-December of 2022. From The Norman Rockwell Museum: “Istvan Banyai” Wikipedia entry: “Istvan Banyai” From The Conde
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_______________________________________________________________________ Attempted Bloggery & Buying Books “Sight Unseen” Here’s another installment in the Attempted Bloggery series “Sight Unseen” which describes books bought despite patchy info provided by the seller. This particular purchase turned out well for Stephen Nadler (the fellow behind the Attempted Bloggery curtain). Go here to read more. Two lions of The New Yorker cartoon world, and the
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An Ilonka Karasz Updike Cover Last night, idly looking over the spines of John Updike books in the Spill library, I came upon his Olinger Stories, a 1964 paperback collection I’ve had for ages (and haven’t re-read for ages). As it’s a paperback, it never was slotted chronologically — I placed it horizontally, resting it on the hardcover Updike books.
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