humor

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Three hardcover volumes in a pictorial slipcase, 1056 pages. Few cartoonists ever had as lavish a tribute as a three-volume-slipcased collection, but few are as deserving as Wilson. Collecting 50 years worth of his monthly single page gag cartoons from Playboy, it's a definitive overview of a remarkable talent and viewpoint. Considering the timeframe, Wilson's fabled black humor and art style remain remarkably consistent--as time passes, the drawing renders into slightly blobbier shapes that retain all of their wit just the same--but the source and degree of the humor is a constant. Although best known for his slightly lugubrious subjects--monsters, witches, corpses, vampires and skeletons are frequent visitors to these pages--Wilson also targets consumerism, materialism, and other basic human foibles. As publisher Gary Groth writes in a biography in the third volume, He has constructed a world that is eerily family, unsettlingly recognizable and lethally consistent. Beautifully designed and printed, the books contain cut-out pages, and the slipcase itself becomes a window for a trapped photo of Wilson. Text extras include Wilson's prose short stories and an appreciation by Neil Gaiman.

Hardcover. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 143 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Yellowing and wear to dust jacket edges. A collection of ghoulish cartoons conducts an irreverent tour of such American institutions as teenage dating, Las Vegas, automobiles, New England Calvinism, and witchcraft by Gahan Wilson.

Softcover. New York, Forge, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 237 pages. Softcover. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear. Nearly 150 Gahan Wilson cartoons appear for the very first time anywhere in Gahan Wilson's Even Weirder. An additional 90 cartoons make their debut in book form, after initial publication in The New Yorker, Playboy and other magazines.

Hardcover. NY, Barnes & Noble, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, Large collection of Gahan Wilson's wonderfully weird cartoons. It includes the entire contents of two previously published works: Gravedigger's Party and Monster Party. Nice reproductions with an introduction by Wilson and a brief "about the author" page.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin , 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Non-paginated. Illustrated with full color woodcuts by Mary Azarian. SIGNED BY AZARIAN. Clean, tight copy. Revealing the variety of life underground, the bright comfort of a greenhouse on a winter's day, or the anticipation of starting seeds indoors in early spring, this striking alphabet book celebrates the simple joys of gardening. Without neglecting the frustrations--the nibbling critters and the toil--or wry, humorous moments spent in the garden. Mary Azarian's spare words and lovely woodcuts capture the essence of turning a bare plot of ground into fragrant flowers and lush vegetables and trees. Her depictions of insects, manure, and compost piles are as delightful as her fountains, pumpkins, and Queen Anne's lace. Whether we are young or old, our gardens both exhaust and renew us. They are our source of magic and wonder and perhaps our best way to live closer to the land and to the rhythm of the seasons.

Hardcover. New York, Robert M. McBride & Company, 2nd Printing, 1945, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 128 pages. Hardcover. Black & white cartoons by Gardner Rea. Light foxing to preliminary pages. Clean, unmarked pages.

Hardcover. Milwaukie WI, Dark Horse Books, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Volume 2. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Presenting the second in a series that collects, in chronological order, all the Sunday pages of the celebrated newspaper strip! Discover the abundant wonder and dazzling beauty in the world--as seen through the eyes of creator Frank King and his beloved characters, Walt and Skeezix--in some of Gasoline Alley's most artistically imaginative art! Reprinted in full color, this giant-sized volume collects every Gasoline Alley Sunday strip from 1923 through 1925. Hardcover, 128 pages, 16 X 12".

Hardcover. Milwaukie WI, Dark Horse Books, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Volume 2. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Presenting the second in a series that collects, in chronological order, all the Sunday pages of the celebrated newspaper strip! Discover the abundant wonder and dazzling beauty in the world--as seen through the eyes of creator Frank King and his beloved characters, Walt and Skeezix--in some of Gasoline Alley's most artistically imaginative art! Reprinted in full color, this giant-sized volume collects every Gasoline Alley Sunday strip from 1923 through 1925. Hardcover, 128 pages, 16 X 12". Due to size and weight, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. London, Herbert Jenkins, 9th pr., Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 256 pages, hardcover, green cloth with black lettering. Stated Ninth Printing on copyright page. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 14th printing, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 46 pages, color illustrations by Marshall, clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, HMH Books for Young Readers, 1st thus, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 368 pages. Like all best friends, George and Martha do everything together--go to the movies, play at the beach, and just hang around not doing much of anything. George and Martha teach each other (and adoring readers) that even in a close friendship, privacy is important, practical jokes can sometimes backfire, and among other things, pouring split pea soup into your loafers to spare the chef's feelings is not the best-laid plan. A man with a talent for friendship, James Marshall defined its very essence in his stories about the world's two best friends. In this volume, all thirty-five episodes are brought together to celebrate friendship and two of the most lovable characters ever created. Each of these brief tales is filled with humor, and James Marshall's drawings are guaranteed to spark feelings of empathy, delight, and self-recognition. This collector's edition includes 35 stories, an introduction by Maurice Sendak as well as appreciations by some of the top authors and illustrators working in children's publishing today. It is a true testament to James Marshall as an author, as an artist, and as a person that his work and his life inspired such a diverse and immensely talented group. Noted children's book historian Anita Silvey provides an afterword.

Hardcover. London , Bell & Daldy, reprint, 1869, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in 3/4 polished leather with marbled boards, spine with gilt lettering, raised bands. Engraved title and twelve full-page engraved plates and 116 engravings on wood by Cruikshank. 277 pages, humorous essays and commentary throughout by various writers. Reprint of the 1845 Edition.

Hardcover. NY, Taschen, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, A color facsimile of the complete pages of George Herriman's Krazy Kat 1935-44. One of the first comics to be considered a work of art, Krazy Kat delights with its characterization and visual-verbal creativity alongside the slapstick shenanigans between Krazy and Ignatz the mouse. This book comes with an illustrated introduction by Alexander Braun. The premise is simple: a black cat loves scheming a white mouse who incessantly throws bricks at the cat's head, which police dog Officer Pupp, secretly harboring a passionate love for the cat, tries to prevent. George Herriman endlessly plays with the above formula in his legendary newspaper strip Krazy Kat, published from 1913 until his death in 1944. Clean, bright copy, still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. New York , Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 192 pages. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. George III enjoyed one of the longest reigns in English history (1760-1820) at a time when both England and the world were undergoing drastic changes. Yet he remains a dim figure, remembered mainly for his failures (losing America) and his "madness" (which turns out to have been not mental but physical). He was highly unpopular for much of his reign, and this judgment is spectacularly endorsed by hundreds of contemporary caricatures, many reproduced here for the first time. Among George's enemies were some of the wittiest artists of any age, and few took the trouble to be fair. This was the way the English nation saw its king, adding a new dimension to what is ultimately a tragic story. 200 color illustrations.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn and repaired dust jacket. A collection of 200 Price cartoons, mostly from The New Yorker. 96 pages. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, W.W. Norton & Company, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Nominated for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Hal is a mild-mannered IRS bureaucrat who suspects that his wife is cheating with her younger, more virile coworker. At a drunken dinner party, Hal volunteers to fly to Belize in search of Susan's employer, T.-the protagonist of Lydia Millet's much-lauded novel How the Dead Dream-who has vanished in a tropical jungle, initiating a darkly humorous descent into strange and unpredictable terrain. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 5th pr, 1959, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with light soil and edgewear. 144 pages. Black & white cartoon illustrations by William Steig.

Hardcover. NY, Four Winds Press, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Non-paginated. Hardcover with dust jacket. Color illustrations by Jack Kent. Light edgewear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. New York, Viking, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Non-paginated. Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. SIGNED BY LANE SMITH WITH DRAWING OF A PAIR OF GLASSES OPPOSITE TITLE PAGE. Full color illustrations by Lane Smith. Bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 46 pages. Hardcover. Full color illustrations by Bill Peet. Dust jacket with slight darkening to spine, minor edge wear. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Dunlop Art Gallery, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial cloth, 169 pages. Illustrated in color and b&w. Text in English and French. Clean, bright copy.

Softcover. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 121 pages, 175 b&w cartoons by Lorenz that ran in the 1980s. Illustrated wraps.

Hardcover. NY, Dial Books, 7th pr., 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial glossy boards. "With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, Marshall enlivens another favorite. . . . The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail." Clean copy, no dust jacket. Top of spine has a small tear.

Hardcover. New York, Dial Books, Reprint, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. Non-paginated. Full color illustrations by James Marshall. Light wear. Clean, tight copy. Caldecott Honor sticker on front.