Not too very long ago I mentioned how much I enjoy seeing photographs of personal libraries. I thought it only fair to share a few photos of several shelves from the Spill non-cartoon library (non-cartoon, but that doesn’t mean New Yorker cartoonists aren’t somehow connected to them in some way…you’ll see). Even though the books are arranged alphabetically by author, I’m not beginning with the “A” authors. So sue me.
These are books that contain work by New Yorker authors, not books about New Yorker authors. if a book is oversized, it is shelved somewhere else. The books about these authors are in the same room, but on different shelves. Exceptions to my “system” abound. A for instance: Brendan Gill’s most popular book, Here At The New Yorker is not in this photo alongside some of his other books — it’s in yet another section devoted to books about The New Yorker.
Above: left to right…Hearing From Wayne by Bill Franzen (Mr. Franzen is married to the cartoonist, Roz Chast); Ornament and Silence by Kennedy Fraser (Ms. Fraser inherited Lois Long’s long-running New Yorker column, “On And Off The Avenue.” Ms. Long was married to Peter Arno); Love Trouble Is My Business by Veronica Geng; Partners by Veronica Geng; Bed of Neuroses (cover art by Rea Irvin); Season In The Sun by Wolcott Gibbs(cover art by Charles Addams); More In Sorrow by Wolcott Gibbs (cover art by Charles Addams); Backward Ran The Sentences, a collection of Wolcott Gibbs’ New Yorker pieces, edited byThomas Vinciguerra (Mr. Vinciguerra also authored Cast Of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E.B. White, James Thurber, And The Golden Age Of The New Yorker); Late Bloomers by Brendan Gill; A New York Life by Brendan Gill; To Wit by Penelope Gilliatt; The Oblong Blur by Philip Hamburger (cover art by Abe Birnbaum); Mayor Watching And Other Pleasures by Philip Hamburger; Curious World by Philip Hamburger; Friends Talking In The Night by Philip Hamburger; Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick; How To Disappear For An Hour by Geoffrey Hellman (cover art by Saul Steinberg); The Battle Is The Pay-Off by Captain Ralph Ingersoll.
Above, left to right: The Army Life by E.J. Kahn; Who Me? by E.J. Kahn; Sam The Cat by Matthew Klam (Mr. Klam’s Who Is Rich?, unfortunately not shown here, features cover art by Liana Finck, and illustrations by John Cuneo); The Secret History Of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore; The Most of A.J. Liebling by A.J. Liebling; Back Where I Came From by A.J. Liebling; It’s Still Maloney by Russell Maloney; That’s New York by Morris Markey (although i don’t have the dust jacket for this book, I’m aware the cover art is by Johan Bull, who also did the book’s illustrations); The Outermost Dream by William Maxwell; (Mr. Maxwell, was, in the earliest days of The New Yorker, its artists hand holder)The World Of John McNulty by John McNulty (Introduction by James Thurber); A Man Gets Around by John McNulty; This Place On Third Avenue by John McNulty; seven titles by John McPhee: The John McPhee Reader, The Pine Barrens, The Headmaster, The Control Of Nature, Table Of Contents, Coming Into The Country, and Draft No. 4; Lust by Susan Minot; Why I Don’t Write by Susan Minot; Joe Gould’s Secret by Joseph Mitchell.