A Legend in the Hollywood Book Trade

by Stephen J. Gertz

The following appears as the Preface to this just published collaboration of Poltroon Press and Booktryst.

 

 There are legends in the Los Angeles rare and used book trade.

In 1905, Ernest Dawson established L.A.’s first book shop exclusively devoted to rare books. Continued by his equally respected sons, Glen and Muir, the shop remained in business for 105 years. From the 1920s through the 1970s, Jake Zeitlin ran a rare book shop that became a locus for fine printing and local artists and typographers. A Texan by birth, Stanley Rose migrated to Los Angeles in the 1920s and began in the trade by peddling books on a push cart through the writers’ buildings at the movie studios  He opened a shop on Hollywood Blvd. that became a hangout for screenwriters and local and visiting novelists. Rose had a back room that after the shop closed in the evenings became an “art studies” salon that concentrated on studying the nude female form, comely models provided for the students’ edification and attention to detail. Rose was also notorious for selling clandestine erotica, and published a few one-handers written by starving screenwriters.  In the early 1960s, the Weinstein brothers established a junk store in Compton, CA that sold used books in addition to dross. Ultimately focusing exclusively on books, they developed their business into the most successful rare book firm in the world with final headquarters in a former mortuary to the stars in West Hollywood.

And then there was the late Eli Goodman (1925-2016) of Cosmopolitan Book Shop on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Established in 1958, Cosmopolitan was Hollywood’s oldest used bookstore. A luminary in the shade of the Los Angeles rare book trade, Eli Goodman was a legend based strictly on eccentric character. And he was a character, one too singularly colorful to have been invented; a novelist could not have dreamed-up the man.

Refusing to ever retire, he never did. His final promotion on the Cosmopolitan website was a calculated plea for mercy and desperate tug on the heartstrings: “I’M 91 YEARS OLD – PLEASE HELP ME!  TAKE MY WONDERFUL BOOKS FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!”

If Eli’s long-time assistant, amanuensis, and literary voice, Arnold Herr, is not exactly James Boswell, Eli Goodman will never be confused with Samuel Johnson - except for their pure love of books. Eli Goodman - within these pages “Mickey Tsimmis” - was passionate about them.

Parts of this book were originally published in the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) newsletter and later episodes on my blog-site for rare books, Booktryst.com. They are collected here, as they were on Booktryst, in serial form but with additional material not found in the online edition [now offline]. The episodes are based on journal entries made by Mr. Herr over many years. Some end with a cliff-hanger. The dangler could be Eli or Arnold hanging onto a steep, flimsy bookshelf for dear life - or somebody trying to hang onto their sanity.

In the 19th century, color-plate books were often “heightened with gum arabic” (as described in bookseller catalogues) to intensify the colors and provide a light sheen. It’s fair to say that the stories herein have been heightened. But it would be misleading to characterize them as tall-tales. They are not. But Mr. Herr was clearly wearing lifts in his shoes while writing them down.

I could go on about Eli Goodman, who I only knew from experience, and Arnold Herr, who has been a friend for many years. But there’s a guy wedged in a truck tire rolling down the street in my direction frantically waving his arms and shouting, “Get out of the way!” And so, hello, I must be going.

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HERR, Arnold M. The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Bookdealer. Berkeley: Poltroon Press in association with Booktryst, 2016. Octavo. Photo-illustrated wrappers. 136 pp. Cover photo by Shelly Vogel. BUY NOW. 

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A Superlative Original Kate Greenaway Watercolor

by Stephen J. Gertz

 

A scarce and significant Kate Greenaway painting, this beautiful gouache, an important early example of her evolution as an artist, appeared as "Disdain," opposite p. 84 in The Quiver of Love (1876), one of four unsigned illustrations by Greenaway of a total of eight, the other four by Walter Crane.

"The crowning event of this year [1876] was the publication by Mr. Marcus Ward of the volume mentioned by Mr. [W.J.] Loftie, entitled 'The Quiver of Love, a Collection of Valentines, Ancient and Modern, With Illustrations in Colours by from Drawings by Walter Crane and K. Greenaway.' All the designs had already been published separately..."  (Spielmann, p. 53).

Indeed, this design originally appeared as one in a set of four valentine cards illustrated by Greenaway.

"Through Loftie she established a connection with the publisher Marcus Ward, for whom she designed 32 sets of greeting cards between 1868 and 1877, when his repeated exploitation of her designs without further payment led her to sever their connection. The cards served a triple purpose for Greenaway: they provided a steady income, they gave her work public visibility, and they furnished a forum in which to develop the 'Greenaway child' that would become her hallmark.

"Despite the rather garish colours employed in Ward's early chromolithographs, samples preserved in the greeting card collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum show both the evolution of Greenaway's style and its departure from other exceedingly mawkish cards then on the market. The valentine Disdain is a notable example. An especially popular greeting card, it was repackaged with other designs by Greenaway and Walter Crane and sold as a book, The Quiver of Love. Its Pre-Raphaelite tone would resurface more forcefully in much later paintings, such as the Fable of the Girl and Her Milk Pail (1893)" (Gaze, Dictionary of Women Artists, p. 611).

The watercolor is identified by the title, "Roses," on the rear of the artboard, and it may be that it was the painting's original name; it is unclear. Here in its original full design, the image was cropped for the card and book.

The verse (by "F.R.") accompanying this illustration in The Quiver of Love reads:

My love, alas, our old acquaintance has forgot,
She never turns her eyes, and passing heeds me not;
Ah! scornful maiden! true hearts do not strew the ground,
When you relenting seek one, it may not be found.

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GREENAWAY, Kate. "Disdain." An Early Original Watercolor in Gouache by Kate Greenaway for The Quiver of Love. c. 1875-1876. Image: 168 x 128 mm on art board (218 x 176 mm).

Spielmann, p. 53. Schuster and Engen 167 (book). Schuster & Engen 288 (card). Engen, p. 49-50.

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Image courtesy of Nudelman Rare Books, with our thanks.

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James Thurber Illustrates Poetry

by Stephen J. Gertz

The four original illustrations by celebrated American humorist, cartoonist, author, and journalist, James Thurber (1894-1961) to accompany Charles Kingsley's poem The Sands o' Dee, as published in The New Yorker magazine March 25, 1939, have come to auction. Offered by Swann Galleries in its 20th Century Illustration sale January 23, 2014, they are estimated to fall under the hammer at $4,000-$6,000.

Executed in ink on paper, the artwork and poem appeared as part of The New Yorker's popular Thurber feature, Famous Poems Illustrated. Each drawing appeared above one of the four six-line stanzas:

 O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
          And call the cattle home,
          And call the cattle home,
      Across the sands of Dee."
    The western wind was wild and dank with foam
      And all alone went she.

 The western tide crept up along the sand,
          And o'er and o'er the sand,
          And round and round the sand,
      As far as eye could see.
    The rolling mist came down and hid the land;
      And never home came she.

Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair,--
          A tress of golden hair,
          A drownèd maiden's hair,
      Above the nets at sea?
    Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
      Among the stakes on Dee.

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

          The cruel crawling foam,
          The cruel hungry foam,
      To her grave beside the sea.
    But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home
      Across the sands of Dee.

Each original illustration is 279 x 216 mm (11x8 1/2 or smaller). Thurber's signature appears at lower left on the final drawing. Three of the illustrations possess faint preliminary drawings on their versos.

Thurber illustrated nine poems for The New Yorker, the others being  Excelsior (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow); Lochinvar (Sir Walter Scott); Locksley Hall (Lord Alfred Tennyson); Oh When I Was ... (A. E. Housman); Curfew Must Not Ring To-Night (Rose Hartwick Thorpe); Barbara Frietchie (John Greenleaf Whittier); The Glove and the Lions (Leigh Hunt); and Ben Bolt (Thomas Dunn English). They were collected in Thurber's 1940 anthology, Fables For Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated.

Established in 1997, the annual Thurber Prize honors outstanding examples of American humor.

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With an affectionate tip o' the hat to Thurber keeper of the flame, fanatic and collector, Jay Hoster, who knows more about the man and his books than anyone alive.

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Images courtesy of Swann Galleries, with our thanks.

Sands o' Dee reprinted via WikiSource under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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Has An Unrecorded Thackeray MS Gift Book Been Discovered?

by Stephen J. Gertz

Hand-lettered titlepage.

A small manuscript book with original art purportedly written and drawn by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), the great nineteenth century English novelist, has surfaced. There are no references to it in any bibliography, biography, or collection of Thackeray's letters.

Titled A Wonderfulle, Veritable and Trulye Delectable Hystorye; of a certain flock of sheep that went astray, during ye Shepherde his absence. Together wh. divers wondrous matters wh. are contained in thys little Boke, it was "published" in London by "John Snobbe Gent. at ye Inkpotte and Asse in Fleet Street" in 1848. In 2013 it appeared on my desk and, the object of near total Thackeray immersion, it has been under investigation for the last three months. The case for WMT's authorship is strong yet circumstantial and the jury remains out.

The book is composed of seven leaves of pale blue writing paper, each 7 1/4 x 5 3/16 inches (185 x 127 mm), with recto-only holograph captioning below colored drawings that were rendered on artist's paper, clipped, and pasted in. A gentle satire, with charming wit it tells the story of an English parson who visits the Continent but not before warning his congregation against being led astray by worldly vanities while he is away.  Compelling news from home returns him to England where he discovers that his flock has, indeed, flirted with the devil and succumbed to the vanities that contemporary society draws the unwary into.

The Shepherd, having perused 'the loving ballad of Lord Bateman,' is impressed
like that high-soul'd Nobleman with a desire 'some foreign countree for to see,'
he accordingly inserts his best blacks into a carpet bag -

and in a brief and improving discourse of two hours + fifty nine minutes
admonishes his flock against being led astray by worldly vanities during
his absence -

There are three possibilities as to the book's origin: by Thackeray; a Thackeray pastishe by an anonymous someone; or a forgery.

It is not a forgery; a forger would have signed Thackeray's name or initials in an attempt to deceive. There is no identifying signature, or initials.

He purchaseth an Alpinstock for the better ascent of mountainous regions, and
embarks at Kingstown in the 'Teakettle Royal Mail Steamer' -

On the voyage he meets the Great Sea Serpent, wife and family -

The Case For Thackeray's Authorship

The paper and ink are true to period. Internal text details nail the date to, indeed, 1848.

Thackeray's is known to have created little illustrated gift books for his friends or their children. In The Pen and the Album he wrote:

Caricatures I scribbled have, and rhymes,
And dinner-cards, and picture pantomimes;
And merry little children's books at times.

The title page is a riot of archaic and curious word spellings. From Thackeray's letters we know that he enjoyed playing with spelling, and he commonly used "wh." to abbreviate "with" and "which," as here.

The "John Snobbe" imprint is highly significant. In 1847 Thackeray serially published The Snobs of England; in 1848 a revised book edition was issued as The Book of Snobs. Thackeray created and popularized this class of individual and our current definition of snob is based upon Thackeray's conception. We can chalk-up the imprint's location - "at ye Inkpotte and Asse" - to Thackeray's self-deprecation and his negative feelings about writing. Like Dorothy Parker, he enjoyed having written but didn't enjoy the writing process. "At ye Inkpotte & Asse" is the lightly grumpy and sarcastic equivalent of slaving in the salt-mines.

Text:

In The Book of Snobs, Thackeray devotes a chapter to the clergy, and a clergyman is here the object of the satire.

The allusion to Lord Bateman in the second leaf's first line is significant. Thackeray was a fan of the traditional story of Lord Bateman and wished to adapt a version of his own. He shared this desire with caricaturist George Cruikshank, who warned him not to; Cruikshank was planning his own, and The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman was published in 1839 with notes by Charles Dickens. Thackeray, however, never got the story out of his head and later composed The Famous History of Lord Bateman, with his own illustrations and text variations.

The second leaf text refers to being "led astray by worldly vanities." We're in Thackeray territory here; Vanity Fair had been serially published 1847-48 and the book edition was issued in 1848.

In the forth leaf reference is made to a trip to Germany. Thackeray visited Germany in 1848 (he had spent time there earlier in life). The parson reading Galignani's newspaper is noteworthy: it was the leading English-language newspaper on the Continent and, significantly, Thackeray had been a contributing writer to it.

The reference to "news of a most horrifying nature" refers to the Young Irelander Rebellion, which occurred in late July 1848.

Reference in the fifth leaf to a Jenny Lind concert - We know from his letters that on June 3, 1848, Thackeray attended a Jenny Lind concert in London.

On the wall in the sixth leaf's illustration is a portrait of French minister Louis-Eugene Cavaignac, the de facto French head of state and dictator in the immediate wake of King Louis-Philip's abdication during the June revolution of 1848.

The final leaf's tableau presents a social scene worthy of Thackeray's wit: is the loud smacking sound that of a kiss or someone smacking their lips in satisfaction of eating a rich dessert? The illustration at far left is amusing - a man seems to be going in for a kiss with a young lady while simultaneously reaching behind her to grab something off a food tray.

IRELAND
FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE!

Festivities At Clontarf  Splendid reunion……..
Rank and fashion….elegance and beauty….light fantastic…
Salon de danse…polka…valse…on dit…
Hon. Charles M….hymnal altar…lovely and accomplished…
fair fiancée…eighteenth year…amiable as beautiful…
gallant bridegroom…splendid prospects…immense estates in the Moon
demise of his granduncle the Man thereof…&c. &c.

Arrived at Schmdttronichbrandtt he reads news of a most horrifying
nature, -

Which causeth him to return instantly by Special Extra Express Train -

The Illustrations:

At first glance they appear to not be by Thackeray. They are more developed than is usually the case with his illustrations. Thackeray was, in his mind, first and foremost an artist; it was his first love, what he did for pleasure, and his ambition in life was to become a painter; writing was a chore he did strictly for the money. But as John Buchanan-Brown's The Illustrations of William Makepeace Thackeray demonstrates, Thackeray's artwork varied from simple line drawings to more elaborate compositions. (His draftsmanship and technique were limited; he had to quit his art studies after he squandered his inheritance and had to earn a living, pronto). Given the time and motivation it is entirely possible that he created these illustrations.

Noteworthy in respect to technique is that when he designed crowd scenes or groups of people their facial features were generally rendered as simple dots or dashes, as seen in the second leaf. This same detail is found throughout Thackeray's illustrations.

So, too, Thackeray's variation of visage, often caricatured but sometimes, as here, somewhat straight without exaggeration or grotesquerie.

The Banshee not going fast enough, a boat is sent ahead to help
her on + by which means he gets back in something less than no time!

He goes in search of his flock + finds some of them at Jenny Lind's concert

Provenance

Purchased by John Ruston of the Horace G. Commins Bookshop located at 100 Old Christ's Church Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, from the Chadwick family of Sherborne, Dorset.

Purchased from Ruston by Jack Joseph of E. Joseph Booksellers of London in 1965.

In descent from Jack Joseph to his nephew, bookseller David Brass.

Maj. James Chadwick was an old friend of Thackeray's. Thackeray created his Alphabet Book for Chadwick's son, Edward.

others coortin'!

The Case Against Thackeray's Authorship 

At first glance, the handwriting is not what we expect of Thackeray. Though the penmanship here is as minute and precise as found in Thackeray's letters, there are a few details which concern. Thackeray's downstems (below the line, as "g" or "y"), for instance, are typically straight; here they curve to the left with a flourish.

The illustrations are too well-done.

Thackeray was too busy during 1848 to create this little book. He was up to his inkpotte & asse writing Pendennis.

Counter:

Thackeray used a standard pen nib when writing his letters. The designer here uses an artist's pen with thin nib, allowing for flourish. These illustrations are finer than most that we see of Thackeray's and he might very well have artistically varied his handwriting to suit the occasion.

Variations in penmanship style - sometimes for amusement purposes - are found between his letters, and between captions to his illustrations.

Thackeray used a straight and slanted handwriting style. Both are present here. 

While it is true that Thackeray was deeply immersed in writing Pendennis during 1848 and perhaps too busy to devote his energies elsewhere, it is also known from his letters that Thackeray quit Pendennis for brief periods of time. Again, writing was toil for him and he might very well have taken time to do this book simply for diversion and relaxation to reinvigorate his creative powers.

•  •  •

The question arises: why would someone anonymously create a one-off Thackeray pastiche in the first place? It's too good to not wish to be associated with it; pride of authorship is warranted. Thackeray had no need to sign it; as a gift the recipient (a member of the Chawick family, possibly James) knew who did it. How would an anonymous author (and clearly trained artist) have known of Thackeray's interest in the Lord Bateman ballad? His affection for unusual spellings? His Galigani connection? The Jenny Lind concert? Too many coincidences; the circumstantial evidence piles up.

And some, it is whispered, have been suspected (oh my eye! my eye!)
of kissing under the Misletoe!!, but owing to its being dark at the
time, and a violent cachination caused by the sudden appearance of
a rummy Old Gentleman on the wall the Informant was not able to
declare positively whether the noise heard was the mundane vanity
of a kiss, or that peculiar smack which is oft-times given to express
the satisfaction felt after the mastication of a rich Tart or the like,
and of which description of the period in question - and thus ends this
strange eventful history! -

The flock have now gone back to Sermon and Tract,
There's none of them courted, there's none of them smack'd;
Thus a Proverb's come true we have oft heard rehearsed
Things are certain to mend when they've come to the worst!

What the Scholars Say

John Aplin, Thackeray family biographer and curator of the Thackeray Bicentennial Symposium at Harvard's Houghton Library in 2011; Victorian literature scholar Kurt Harris, Ph.D; and Peter L. Shillingsburg, general editor of the Works of W.M. Thackeray; author of William Makepeace Thackeray: A Literary Life, etc., were consulted.

Mr. Aplin is sanguine about Thackeray's authorship. Dr. Harris wrote, "The drawings and handwriting in the images you sent me appear to be those of W. M. Thackeray." Mr. Shillingsburg is dubious: "I have seen a number of iffy manuscripts and this one did not convince me but 'attributed to' is accurate."

In 1972, Gordon N. Ray (1915-1986), editor of Thackeray's letters, was consulted. It is reported that he glanced at the book's second leaf for a moment and without investigation declared that it was not by Thackeray. The handwriting was, apparently, all he needed to see and he didn't instantly see Thackeray. I am told, however, that Ray, at this point in his life aging, irritable, and cantankerous, was a bit of a cuss about the matter, refusing further and deeper examination of the book. With all due respect to Ray, however, experts after their great successes can sometimes mutate into rigid doctrinaires inflexible to anything that might contradict their experience. Mr. Ray may have been correct. But he may have been completely wrong.

The provenance should definitively settle the issue but, alas, there is no paperwork to document Ruston's purchase from the Chadwick family, nor a bill of sale from Ruston to Jack Joseph. There is no smoking gun, just the scent of gunpowder and traces of it on Thackeray's hand.

I admit to scholastic bias; I want this to be by Thackeray; it excites the latent academic and ignites the thrill of exploration and discovery. It is so very cool. And, without putting too fine a point on it, if accepted as being by Thackeray it's a book whose value is in five-figures. 

The matter is now left to academics, bibliographers, and collectors. Whatever the result, this is one of the most fascinating pieces of Thackerayiana to appear in a very long time.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks. This item is not currently for sale.
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Judy Garland Spots James Mason In Rare 1805 Book

by Stephen J. Gertz

The original, unsigned and undated, artwork for a series of satirical prints, Symptoms of Drilling, signed on the published prints as  "Designed & Etched by H.B.H. Esq. 1805" without imprint, recently fell into my lap. Bound by Riviere and Son c. 1900 - incredibly with misspelled title, "Symptons," on the upper cover - it was from the collection of the great film  director, George Cukor, and bears his celebrated bookplate designed by Paul Landacre.

Bookplate by Paul Landacre.

"For George / I came across this book & spotted James Mason. Judy"

It was a gift to Cukor from Judy Garland, inscribed, "For George/ I ran across this book & spotted James Mason / Judy." The book was likely presented and the message likely written c. 1953-54, the years that Cukor's production of Garland's star-vehicle, A Star Is Born, co-starring Mason, was shot and released. 

Symptoms of Drilling / Fall in Gentlemen!- heads up! - eyes right!

Ready! -p'sent! - wait Gentlemen, wait for the Word "Fire!"

The watercolors, in a style similar to Thomas Rowlandson, depict a motley crew of comical recruits engaged in soldier's training under the direction of a drill sergeant. The captions have been added by hand in the sky above the heads of the recruits. A bookseller's description tipped to the front endpaper mistakenly attributes them to Rowlandson but the only surviving copies of the published prints, at the British Museum (incomplete set) and Brown University (complete set), bear the signature and date at noted above.

Shoulder Arms.

It remains unknown who "H.B.H." or "H, H.B." is, and the published album is unrecorded by Tooley or Abbey.

March!!!- Cock-up there!

To the Right - face!

The series might well have been titled, "1st Division, Wildly Divided, Amateur Army... Chaos on the March!!!" If someone looking like James Mason is part of this platoon of British Gomer Pyles I don't see him. Miss Garland was clearly poking fun at the British actor who, in A Star Is Born, portrays washed-up movie star, Norman Maine, to Judy Garland's rising star, Esther Blodgett / Vicki Lester, the two in a heartfelt yet disastrous marriage.

Authentic Judy Garland autograph material is difficult to come by - studio publicists routinely signed still photographs - and her signature mutated over the years, her autograph from the 1930s - 1940s quite distinct from later examples. As odd as her signature appears here in contrast to earlier ones there is little doubt that this inscription is genuine. Why would someone make the  effort to deceive with this obscure, one-off album, and why would it be in George Cukor's possession? 

Had she remained in character the inscription would have been tear-stained and signed, "Mrs. Norman Maine," how Vicki Lester accepted her Academy Award after dearly beloved husband Norman Maine took a long walk off a short pier and journeyed into the drink for a final, dramatic exit stage-right to continue his full-time drinking into eternity.

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[H.B.H. or H., H.B.]. Symptoms of Drilling. N.p.: n.p., n.d. [1805]. Oblong octavo (5¾ x 16¾ in; 145 x 427 mm). A set of five original watercolor illustrations folded in two.

1. Symptoms of Drilling. Fall in Gentlemen!- heads up! - eyes right!
2. To the Right - face!
3.  March!!!- Cock-up there!
4.  Shoulder Arms
5.  Ready! -p'sent! - wait Gentlemen, wait for the Word "Fire!" 

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Bukowski: Lost Original Drawings Of A Dirty Old Man Are Found

by Stephen J. Gertz

Nineteen long-lost original drawings by Charles Bukowski, America's poet laureate of the depths, surfaced at the 46th California International Antiquarian Book Fair February 15-17, 2013, offered by ReadInk of Los Angeles. Sixteen of them appeared as accompaniment to Bukowski's classic column in the Los Angeles Free Press (The Freep), Notes of a Dirty Old Man. The remaining three originally appeared in Sunset Palms Hotel, Issue #4 (1974).

The drawings come from the personal collection of L.A. poet-publisher Michael C. Ford, who found them while cleaning out his desk at the end of his own tenure as a Freep staffer in late 1974. When he offered them to Bukowski, he was told “ah, you hang onto ‘em, kid, they might be worth something someday.” Ford took the advice and tucked them away in his personal files, from which they have emerged just once before now, for a short-run display a few years ago at a small and now defunct gallery in Long Beach, California.

Until its termination in 1976, Bukowski’s Notes of a Dirty Old Man feature in the Los Angeles Free Press was probably the single biggest contributing factor to both the spread of his literary fame and his local notoriety as a hard-living, hard- drinking L.A. character.  

Begun in John Bryan’s famous Open City underground newspaper, published in L.A. from 1967 to 1969, “Notes” continued in the Freep after Bryan’s paper folded, and was also picked up by underground and counterculture publications in other parts of the country (e.g. NOLA Express in New Orleans). Bukowski’s contributions, which alternated irregularly between prose and poetry, were often illustrated with his crude but evocative and humorous doodles; occasionally he dove into comic-stripland, as with his “Clarence Hiram Sweetmeat” episodes, which made a handful of appearances in late 1975. 

Deadpan and hilariously direct, these Free Press drawings represent an important “lost” element of one of Bukowski’s signature achievements. Both published collections of “Notes” columns - Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969, which of course predates these particular drawings) and More Notes of a Dirty Old Man: The Uncollected Columns (2011) - reprint only the text portions of the originals, omitting the illustrations. 

 

Yet it’s so much more satisfying to read Buk’s piece on his day at the racetrack (The Freep, November 2, 1974), when it’s accompanied by his slapdash rendering of a race in progress, its essence brilliantly encapsulated in his simple caption: “Right or Wrong in 18 Seconds.”

Until these originals came to light the only way to appreciate the “Notes” columns in their illustrated fullness was to either scrounge up old copies of the Freep (neither easy nor cheap, these days), or  park yourself in front of a microfilm reader at a major library and feel your eyes dissolve from the strain.

All the drawings are ink on paper, 81⁄2”x11" with a single exception, 6 1/2" x 4". Information regarding original publication date(s) is available upon request from ReadInk.

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All images courtesy of ReadInk, with our thanks.
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Of Related Interest:

Charles Bukowski's Last, Unpublished Poem, and the Bestial Wail.

Charles Bukowski, Artist.

Charles Bukowski Bonanza At Auction.

Dirty Old Man Exposed At Huntington Library.
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Seven Original Arthur Rackham Watercolors

by Stephen J. Gertz

[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. BROWNING, Robert.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. [1934].
One of ten specially bound copies containing an original watercolor,
this copy being No. 4.

Between 1931 and 1936, famed book illustrator Arthur Rackham, as gifts to his close friends, specially ordered  nine to eleven copies of the following nine books he illustrated.

[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. ROSSETTI, Christina.
Goblin Market. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. [1933].
One of ten specially bound copies containing an original watercolor,
this copy being No. 7.

1931: The Night Before Christmas
1931: The Compleat Angler
1932: Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen
1932: The King of the Golden River
1933: The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book
1933: Goblin Market
1934: The Pied Piper of Hamelin
1935: Poe’s Tales of Mystery & Imagination
1936: Peer Gynt

[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator].
The Arthur Rackham Fairy Book.
A book of old favourites with new illustrations.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. [1933].
One of ten special copies containing an original watercolor,
this copy being No. 8.

Rackham had them specially bound by renowned binders Sangorski & Sutcliffe and included an unique original watercolor in each.

[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. RUSKIN, John.
The King of the Golden River. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. [1932].
One of nine specially bound copies with an original watercolor,
this being copy No. 6.  

The limitation leaves were printed on the verso of the half-titles and contain a statement written in ink by the publisher, George H. Harrap: "This edition, which contains an original painting by Arthur Rackham, is limited to nine [or ten] copies of which eight are for sale. George G. Harrap & Co Ltd."

[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. POE, Edgar Allan.
Tales of Mystery & Imagination. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., [1935].
One of ten special copies containing an original watercolor,
this copy being No. 5.

Including original art  in some copies of books he illustrated was not unusual for Rackham.

RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. IBSEN, Henrik.
Peer Gynt. A Dramatic Poem by Henrik Ibsen.
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: George G. Harrap & Co., [1936].
One of ten special copies containing an original watercolor,
this copy being No. 7.

Original art, albeit simple pen & ink drawings, can be found, for instance, in trade edition copies of the Heinemann productions of Wagner, The Reingold & The Valkyrie (1910) and Siegfreid & The Twilight of the Gods (1911); and Hodder & Stoughton's signed and limited  edition of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906).

[RACKHAM, Arthur]. RHODES,Thomas.
To The Other Side. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham & Alfred Bryan.
London: George Philip & Son, 1893.
Rackham's copy, and with an original watercolor by
Rackham with a lengthy inscription by Rackham,
signed and dated 1935.

Rackham's personal copy of Rhodes' To The Other Side (1893) - the first book he illustrated - is graced by a delicate watercolor. Rackham, per usual with his anthropomorphic trees, used his face as model. 

Special copies uniformly bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Because of their rarity and popularity with collectors, copies of Rackham-illustrated books with original art by him are not inexpensive, generally running into low five figures. For the Rackham aficionado they're worth every penny.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Women are Children: Don't Let Them Vote

by Stephen J. Gertz

"The Militant" by G.T. (?), c. 1910-1912.

This political cartoon, in ink and watercolor, was likely inspired by and in sympathy with the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League (1908-1918) which opposed granting women the vote in Parliamentary elections within the United Kingdom.

The same sort of battle against women's suffrage was occurring simultaneously in the United States, ongoing since the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 proclaimed voting rights for women.

Here, a little girl is arrested by two bemused policemen. She's in tears holding a can of oil, the prime suspect of arson to the house ablaze at right in the background.  On the house's fence the girl has chalked the demand, "Voats fer Wimmen."

The message is clear: English domestic life is threatened by immature women demanding the vote. Militants are particularly irresponsible and dangerous; the whole of society will go up in flames if women stuff the ballot box with their foolishness. A more condescending view of the issue is difficult to imagine. It was not, however, unusual. Casting women suffragettes as little children was a standard weapon in the anti-suffragette arsenal.

In the United States, a similar anti-suffragette theme was expressed at the very same time by Ten Little Suffragettes, a scarce eleven-page comic based upon the folk-song, Ten Little Indians. Ten little girls in pinafores carry protest signs supporting women's suffrage but are undone by their pre-pubescent behavior until only one remains and, petulant, she breaks her doll's head.

That women are children and incapable of making informed decisions about things they care about is a sentiment that remains amongst many to this day. Why should adults cede power to emotionally labile kids?

Particularly female children who are now increasingly dominating college enrollment, often out-earning their husbands and boyfriends, and are members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Cabinet.

Next thing you know, there'll be a female President of the United States. Somehow, the United States will survive - though a segment of the male voting population may feel their manhood whither and retract into their gut to disappear with their last vestige of superiority in everything except, perhaps, the ability to fix a toaster - a skill that many men have yet to master, this writer included whose grand philosophy regarding broken small household appliances boils down to, Buy a new one.
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[ANTI-SUFFRAGETTE ORIGINAL CARTOON]. G.T. [?]. The Militant. [London?]: c. 1910-1912. 39 x 35 cm original ink and watercolor drawing.
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Image courtesy of John Drury Rare Books, currently offering this item, with our thanks.
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Of related interest:

Ten Little, Nine Little, Eight Little Suffragettes...(And Then There Were None).
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Napoleon Rides Bareback On Erotic Steed (May Be NSFW)

by Stephen J. Gertz

This  astonishing and keenly amusing original watercolor of a bare-bottomed Napoleon with membre viril exposed riding a horse composed of nude women is being offered at Christie's-Paris during their Collection d'un Amateur Bibliophile sale, Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

What's the estimate for this unique erotic caricature of Napoleon? $21,000 - $27,000. Nappy in flagrante delicto ain't cheap to collecto.

The watercolor, created c. 1810 by an unknown artist in the manner of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, is 232 x 180 mm in size. The draftsmanship is excellent, the arrangement of the women to form a horse with mane and tail is artful and clever, the composition is a sight to delight. It's a minor masterwork.

Napoleon was no stranger to political caricature and this eye-opener, while singular, reflects the contemporary German and English sport of casting Napoleon in the worst possible light.

I'm not sure what the underlying message is in this particular lampoon  - Napoleon, imperial scepter exposed, riding on the backs of women as a commentary on his staying power; Napoleon as a sex-addled emperor; what? - but it is, as they say in Brooklyn, cherce.

This is just one of many fine items of erotica, etc, offered by Christie's. We'll feature more from this sale as it draws close.

In the meantime, Booktryst provides, as a public service, the following advice for horseback riders engaged in l'amour fou à cheval.

Equestrian Safety Tip #1: Men who hold on to their pommel when riding without saddle may feel warm and secure but it will do absolutely no good if the horse rears and/or bolts into a wild gallop. You may hold your own during the ordeal but that won't hold the prospect of flying over the high side at bay.

Equestrian Safety Tip #2: French emperors who bare their buttocks while riding may justifiably be confused with a horse's ass.

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Image courtesy of Christies, with our thanks.
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Jack Kerouac, Painter

by Stephen J. Gertz

An original, untitled drawing of Jesus' crucifixion executed in colored crayons by Beat novelist Jack Kerouac recently came to market, went on the road and onto a collector's wall, lickety-split, for $7,500.

The scene depicts the shadow of Christ on the cross with three figures in the foreground attending to his body as an angel descends from heaven. In the background, a man, presumably, Judas, hangs from a gallows as the sun shines over distant hills. Kerouac boldly signed his name in the lower left corner.

Kerouac made the drawing for a favorite niece, using her crayons and sketch paper. Catholicism, which played such a strong, if subtly understated and misunderstood role in his novels and cosmology, is overt here.

Though a spontaneous work, this untitled painting is a rich, fully realized piece on a par with some of Kerouac's best art as found in his Departed Angels: The Lost Paintings (2004).

The appearance of this painting for public sale was something of an event: Kerouac's visual art is held mostly by institutions and examples are exceedingly scarce in the marketplace.

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Image courtesy of Royal Books, with our thanks.
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Of related interest:

When Kerouac Met Dostoyevsky.
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When Norman Mailer Met Actor Charles Laughton

By Stephen J. Gertz

Not too many years after Norman Mailer (1923-2007) published The Naked And The Dead in 1948, the screen rights were bought by actor Charles Laughton (1899-1962), who would direct, and his producing partner, Paul Gregory. Mailer received the then princely sum of $250,000. Though he was not hired to write the screenplay (ultimately written by James Agee) Laughton brought Mailer in to help with preliminary development, the two spending a week together working in Laughton's penthouse apartment in Hollywood.

The fruits of Mailer and Laughton's collaboration have survived. 

An archive of twenty-two original sketches for the film adaptation of The Naked And The Dead, in pencil on paper, and with many signed by Mailer, is being offered by Bloomsbury-London this Thursday, July 19, 2012 as part of their Printed Books Including Modern First Editions sale.

The archive's provenance could not be more sterling: from the estate of Charles Laughton and his wife, Elsa Lanchester. The lot is estimated to sell for £20,000 - £30,000 ($31,130 - $46,729).

Nine of the sketches relate to scenes in the novel, including views of the island from the invasion fleet's POV, views of the island pass, the structure of the rapids traversed by characters Croft and Wilson, and a scene from Croft's "time machine," one of a series of flash-backs interspersed within the novel.

The remaining sketches depict characters in the novel: Croft (3); Minetta (2); Cummings (3); Roth (2); Goldstein (2); Red (3); A Soldier (1); Dalleson (1); Hearn (1); Brown (1); Polack (1); Stacey (1); Ridges (1); Toglio (1); Wyman (1); Wilson (3); Hennessey (1); Gallagher (4); and Martinez (1).

In the portraits of Cummings and Croft, Mailer has drawn sketches for both their "outer" and ''inner'" aspects. Dalleson is referred to as "Wallace Beery the younger" and one of Wilson's sketches has the comment "should be more handsome." The sketches provide an insider's view into the  free and easy nature of this early leap into adapting the novel to film.

Based upon Laughton's hopes for The Night Of The Hunter, his first film directing assignment, it was expected that a Laughton-directed The Naked And The Dead would receive a studio's production green light. Sadly, alas, The Night Of The Hunter, while a critical success, was a box-office failure. Laughton dropped out of the project and The Naked And The Dead would ultimately be directed by Raoul Walsh and released in 1958.

"Charles Laughton was to do it," Mailer told interviewer Gerald Peary, "and we spent a week together at Laughton's St. Moritz Hotel penthouse. He had a great dedication to the novel, and he was coming off...The Night Of The Hunter, which he thought would do extraordinarily. It didn't. Laughton was not a young man, and it took everything out of him. He never directed again."

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Images courtesy of Bloomsbury Auctions, with our thanks.
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