Of all the New Yorker Albums published, it is the first one that sends off the biggest charge when I spot it on a shelf (honestly, it’s not hard to miss. I have one of the above copies set on a shelf with its cover facing out). Over time I’ve ended up with the three you see above, plus, I think, another one or two sans dust jackets. If I see one in a used bookstore and it’s a bargain, I pounce (the most I ever paid for a copy was $10.00).
That it is the first Album of drawings makes it “special” but I like to think about when it was published. In 1928, The New Yorker, having turned three, was fast moving away from the insecurity of its first troubled year — the year it nearly didn’t survive. In this first Album, the inside front flap copy reads:
Oh, just look inside!
I’ve always loved the cheeky confidence of that command. Forget about publisher’s hype — just get to the cartoons. The back inside copy reads:
The New Yorker
Album
The best pictures from three years of the New Yorker, by
Peter Arno
Gluyas Williams
John Held, Jr.
Rea Irvin
Frueh
And many others.
And indeedy-do, there were others, including Barbara Shermund, Helen Hokinson, Otto Soglow, Alan Dunn, Gardner Rea, Alice Harvey, I. Klein, Ralph Barton, Carl Rose, Perry Barlow, Alajalov, Leonard Dove, Peggy Bacon, and Julian de Miskey. This would be the last Album dominated by so few artists (particularly those mentioned on the inside flap).Things became a bit more democratic in later volumes.
Looking through the drawings you’ll notice there isn’t a single greatest hit. The famous Carl Rose “…I say it’s spinach…” drawing had yet to appear when the collection was assembled, having been published at the very end of 1928. The stars of the book, considering them as a group, are Peter Arno’s Whoops Sisters, who helped save The New Yorker.
It is kind of stunning how well founded The New Yorker stable was at such a young age, and even more amazing: the artists soon to become part of the stable: Thurber, Mary Petty, Addams, and George Price, to name just a few.
Here are a fun few words from the book’s Foreword:
