Latest Addition To The Spill Library: Cream Of Thurber
I put off acquiring the 1939 UK collection, The Cream Of Thurber for many years, but finally caved last week when thinking about the paperback edition, published in 1948; the simplicity of the cover design was (suddenly!) appealing. The (very inexpensive) ordered copy arrived yesterday: it’s well worn, the pages are browned and brittle. But no matter the age, condition, edition, or format of the book, the words and “pictures” (most notably The Pet Department pieces) never fail to amuse.
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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