A Glimpse Of The Spill’s Archives
There’s almost no other place I’d rather be on a hot summer’s morning than poking around the Spill‘s archives (it’s cool in there, and not well lit). I’m showing a portion of one of my favorite areas: the stacks of single issues (single issues as opposed to issues collected in bound volumes, a few of those — stragglers from the 1970s & 1980s I think — can be seen just behind the stacks). As much as I enjoy sitting down with bound volumes, it’s a wonderfully different experience picking up a single issue, and flipping through.
You’ll notice there are missing years — for instance, 1942 skips to 1945. That’s because 1943-1944 are found in bound volumes. And there are plenty of duplications: issues both in volumes and singles in stacks). For missing issues and missing years — the Spill has almost no issues from the magazine’s first decade — The New Yorker‘s online digital archive fills in the gap (until I get hold of that first decade of issues).
Missing from these stacks are the Eustace Tilley anniversary issues. I keep them closer to my work area. That collection is not quite complete — the first issue and the next two are yet to be collected (1925, 1926, 1927). Also not in the room, and close to my desk, are any issues containing extra-special material. Examples of special issues: J.D. Salinger’s last New Yorker piece, Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” series, Arno’s man in the shower, Thurber’s “…Dr. Millmoss,” etc., etc..
You see an old typewriter sitting on top of a box. I believe the box is still sealed. It contains a copy of The Complete Cartoons Of The New Yorker (published in 2004). There are already two copies floating around here (plus the paperback version) — I decided to keep one sealed just in case the others wore out.