I hopefully will forever be surprised by foreign edition Thurber covers. Google translated the below Czechoslovakian title to “The Philosopher and the Oyster” — one of the fables in Thurber’s 1956 Further Fables For Our Time. The cover drawing is definitely not an oyster, it’s supposed to be a toad…I suppose a toad could be philosophical. This book… is this
Read more
Latest Addition To The Archives…First Day Of Issue Thurber Stamps Through the generosity of Michael Rosen, Thurberista par excellence, the Spill has received a commemorative folder containing a sheet of first day of issue Thurber stamps, dated September 10 1994, along with various materials related to celebratory events on the occasion (Fran Lebowitz* delivered “Remarks”). My thanks to Mr. Rosen
Read moreFrom Japan: The Dog Department The other day I ran across this interesting cover for the Japanese edition of Thurber’s The Dog Department. I don’t know about you, but I can never get enough Thurber dog drawings; this cover doesn’t disappoint. The book, edited by the fab Michael Rosen, was originally published in the US in 2001 (the US cover
Read more
From Michael Rosen’s Thurber files, this quote from what I believe to be a Book Of The Month Club newsletter article by Wolcott Gibbs. Here’s Gibbs talking about Thurber transitioning from a managing editor position at The New Yorker to a Talk of the Town rewrite editor: “I think in the end Thurber fired himself as an editor…and began to
Read more