A long overdue reorganization of a part of the Spill’s archives began yesterday. It began as any reorganization has to begin: with moving things (books mostly) from one place to another. The above were facing a wall on a metal revolving bookcase. I hadn’t seen some of them in awhile (the revolving bookcase does not easily revolve). The small book (sans title on its binding) that sits between the two Rea Irvin illustrated books (Theatre Guyed & Opera Guyed) is a lovely little book of Suzanne Suba’s New Yorker “Spot” drawings. There are at least two copies of this in the archives; one’s been out in full view for years. The battered copy of Meet The Artist has been cited numerous times on the Spill — I wondered where I put it (it was already battered when I discovered it behind some books in a small used bookshop in Ellsworth, Maine). It’s a great collection of self portraits of artists who appeared in a San Francisco exhibit way way back in 1943. And then there are the three ex-library bound volumes. The Atlantic is in the Spill library because it contains The Atlantic’s then associate editor, Charles Morton’s three-parter about working in publishing during the Depression. My interest in the volume was having Part Two: “A Try For The New Yorker” in which Morton tells us about meeting Harold Ross and auditioning for a position at the magazine. Newsweek contains a cover story on James Thurber (“How to Keep Your Sense Of Humor”is in the issue of February 4, 1957); the Harper’s volume contains a half-dozen of E.B. White’s “One Man’s Meat” columns (you can see I’ve marked them off so I can get to them easily). The Thurber Garland has also been mentioned on this site many times (very recently in fact). A wonderful little book published in the UK.
So… eight books dusted off and re-appreciated. Back in 2008 I wrote a piece, “The Madhouse” for The New Yorker’s website about the overcrowding issue in one of the Spill‘s rooms (my then work room). I included this photo of a small part of a corner of the room. Since then, more books (and “stuff”) arrived, pushing me out into another room to work. In an effort to take the Madhouse room back, the re-organizing will continue with lots more re-appreciating to come. And then, it’s just a matter of building yet another bookcase.
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Today’s Daily Cartoonist
Ali Solomon, who began contributing to The New Yorker in November of 2018 on trains and seating.