Back In 1981…
I wish I was paying more attention back in 1981, when Christie’s (East) auctioned a number of fabulous original drawings from Thurber’s classic New Yorker series, “The War Between Men and Women.” (Sorry the screenshot is so poor — I took it off of a poor quality online scan of the auction catalog). The expected price range for each of these Thurber drawings: $300 -$400.
Here’re a couple of the originals offered:
Above: published in The New Yorker, February 3, 1934.
Above: published in The New Yorker, March 17, 1934.
Want to see the entire series? (seventeen parts, from to January 20, 1934 through April 28, 1934). Pick up a copy of the Thurber Carnival or the earlier book, Men, Women and Dogs.
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Thurber’s A-Z Entry:
James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”
Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website