Thurber Books, Post 1961: A Survey
I thought it might be interesting to round up, and take a quick look at, the Thurber books that were published following his passing in 1961. The first two are old friends — they’ve have been with me for as long as I’ve been collecting Thurber books.
Credos & Curios. Harper & Row, 1962. Foreword By Helen Thurber.
Mrs. Thurber writes (in part) in her Foreward: “Among the scattered notes I found after my husband’s death were a few sheets of yellow paper, covered with his familiar and almost illegible scrawl and listing future pieces and projects…on one sheet, alone and looking very lonely, were the words ‘Credos and Curios.’ another contained the contents page of what was to be his next book. with these two sheets as my guide, I have put together, as far as I was able, this collection.”
A book of previously uncollected pieces…including “seven astute and affectionate profiles of Thurber’s fellow craftsmen: E.B. White, Elliot Nugent, Mary Petty, George S. Kaufman, John McNulty…and Scott Fitzgerald.”
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Thurber and Company: A New Collection of Drawings of Male and Female Animals Including Humans. Harper & Row, 1966.
Introduction by Helen Thurber
From the flap copy: “A new assemblage of Thurber drawings and cartoons, many of which have never before appeared in book form and some of which have never been published at all until now.”
This large format book is always a pleasure to sit with. An essential addition to any Thurber library.
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Collecting Himself : James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself. Harper & Row, 1989.
Edited by Michael Rosen
Another volume of “previously unanthologized drawings and writings.” There’s so much here to love, but most especially “Glimpses Of The Art Conference,” a suite of seven drawings; some of them were displayed on a wall in Harold Ross’s office at The New Yorker “to remind him of the threat of formula.” You can see them in the photo, above the table where Ross used to work on the “pictures” with the art editor, James Geraghty.
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People Have More Fun Than Anybody. Harcourt, 1994.
Edited by Michael Rosen
A “centennial volume of previously uncollected work.” I will always have a fondness for this collection as it includes a Thurber original that’s been in our home for decades: “My husband has insured my life for a hundred thousand dollars. Isn’t that sweet?” It appeared in The New Yorker, May 27, 1939.
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The Genius Of James Thurber. The Folio Society, 2000.
Edited by Michael Rosen
This is one of two Thurber books not in the Spill library (the other is The Dog Department, directly below. Without firsthand knowledge of it, I’m sending you over to a site where it’s fairly well explained.
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The Dog Department: Thurber On Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles. HarperCollins, 2001.
Edited by Michael Rosen. Foreword By Rosemary Thurber.
As with The Genius of James Thurber, I’m sending you to a site with further info.
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A Mile and A Half Of Lines: The Art of James Thurber. Trillium, 2019.
Edited by Michael Rosen. With Contributions by Ian Frazier, Seymour Chwast, Liza Donnelly, Michael Maslin, and Rosemary Thurber.
I probably have trumpeted my delight with this book more than any Thurber book other than The Thurber Carnival. One of the many reasons to love this book is that we are shown Thurber’s drawings as a whole, not cropped.