Humor

London, Published at the Punch Office, 1st thus, 1846, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 252 pages of text. Full tan leather binding with elaborate decorative gilt tooling on spine and gilt ruling on edges of boards. Maroon leather spine labels. Original purple publisher's cloth is bound in at the rear (front cover and spine only). Title page is printed in red and black. Frontis portrait and title page engraving by Cruikshank. The first one volume edition. The classic parody of the Commentaries, it went through numerous English and American editions. Cruikshank was the leading English illustrator and caricaturist of his day. He is best known for work for William Hone and Charles Dickens. Lovely copy.

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st thus, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 668 pages, in a bright dust jacket. Includes the contents of "The Comics Before 1945" and "The Comics Since 1945.

Hardcover. NY, Benjamin Blom, 1st, 1964, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, light orange cloth with brown titles on spine. Traces the history of the time-honored farce, featuring Pulcinella, Harlequin, Pierrot, Pantaleone, and other traditionsl characters, from Roman comedy to Cruikshank's Punch & Judy. Originally published in 1912, this new edition adds 46 pages of illustrations and a folding color frontispiece. Clean copy, no dust jacket.

Hardcover. Kitchen Sink Press, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 95 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Extensive color illustrations throughout. Foxing to dust jacket interior, several pages, and top edge. Some soiling to fly leafs. Otherwise clean, tight copy. Cliff Sterrett was one of the outstanding newspaper cartoon artists in the formative period of this 20th Century art: a skilled draftsman, borderline (and sometimes over the line) surrealist, and humorist. DUE TO SIZA AND WEIGHT, This is a heavy and oversized book and will require extra shipping. International customers please ask for a shipping quote before purchasing.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 344 pages. As the 1970s wind down, the last two recurring Peanuts characters have fallen into place: Snoopy's brother Spike and the youngest Van Pelt sibling, Rerun. But that doesn't mean Schulz's creativity has diminished. For instance, in an epic five-week sequence, when Charlie Brown, found guilty by the EPA of biting the Kite-Eating tree, he goes on the lam and ends up coaching the "Goose Eggs," a group of diminutive baseball players, Austin, Ruby, Leland, and -did you know there was a second Black Peanuts character, aside from Franklin?-Milo. Also: a tennis-playing Snoopy ends up reluctantly teamed with the extreme Type "A" athlete Molly Volley... who then reappears later in the book, nowfacing off against her nemesis, "Crybaby" Boobie. All in addition to the usual cast of beloved characters.

Hardcover. NY, Wings Books, reprint, 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, contains Without Feathers, Getting Even, and Side Effects. 473 pages. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Minneapolis MN, The Country Press, 1st, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Poor, Hardcover in marbled green boards with orange front label, in a worn, chipped dust jacket. 28 pages on outhouses and privies in a humorous vein. No date but probably the early 1930s.

Hardcover. NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st, 1921, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Poor, Hardcover, brown cloth stamped in gilt, 222 pages with line drawings by the author. In a very worn and chipped dust jacket. "Mr. Day here sets forth in his characteristic vein his observations about men and human nature and books--talks about Humpty-Dumpty, Prometheus, Shaw, Fabre and Noah--money, the nebular hypothesis, legs, cows and marriage. Also an attempt to describe our world to a fish." Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1st, 1954, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, illustrated boards, unpaginated. A collection of original Partch cartoons all about hunting, fishing, golf and other sports. Introduction by Gurney Williams, cartoon editor at Collier's. Clean copy, light wear, mild fading to edges of cover.

Hardcover. Somerville MA, Candlewick Press, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, glossy boards, 56 pages, illustrated in color by David Roberts. A tyrannical teacher gets her just due in a delightfully subversive, outrageously funny tale by Newbery Medal winner Paul Fleischman. Miss Breakbone hates kids. Especially the time-squandering, mindwandering, doodling, dozing dunderheads in her class. But when she confiscates Junkyard's crucial find, she finally goes too far. Enter Wheels (and his souped-up bike with forty-eight extra gears), Pencil (who can draw anything from memory), Spider (look up and you'll find him), and their fellow misfits in a spectacular display of teamwork aimed at teaching Miss Breakbone a lesson she won't soon forget. Roberts' drawings are hilariously appropriate. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, NBM, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 192 pages. Early b&w comic strips. Mutt and Jeff was the first successful daily comic strip; before it, the funnies were Sunday features. It debuted in 1907, however, as A. Mutt, limning the follies of lanky racetrack gambler Augustus Mutt. Diminutive sidekick Jeff appeared the following year to form a partnership that lasted until the strip's overdue demise in 1983. Mutt and Jeff was the first strip to essay weeks-long story lines, such as a trip to Mexico to join Pancho Villa's revolution. Compared to better-remembered strips of the era, Mutt and Jeff was crudely drawn, yet it captured the nation's fancy. Despite its significance in comics history, Mutt and Jeff is scantly regarded today. By the mid-1920s, Fisher handed creative duties over to ghosts to free up time for the playboy lifestyle that the strip's sizable revenues allowed him. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Beaufort Books, 1st thus, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a price-clipped dust jacket with minor fading, 270 pages. An omnibus volume containing all 5 of Barry Pain's "Eliza" books, written between 1900 and 1913 and, according to Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame), "some of the funniest books in the English language". Clean copy.

Softcover. Rutland VT, self-published, 2nd Ed., 1909, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, red paper covers stamped with a black title and cartoon portrait of author. Yankee humor in the form of short sketches originally published in the Rutland Herald. The author (pictured in a photo on the first inside page) was a member of the Vermont legislature. Several cartoons by George Randall embellish the 90 pages of text. Ads in rear. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Robert M. McBride & Company, 1st, 1944, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 80 pages. Introduction by Ogden Nash. Edited by Gurney Williams. Rea's cartoons for Colliers, he also contributed heavily to the New Yorker. Paper starting to peel from spine, otherwise clean, sound copy.

Hardcover. Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 128 pages, illustrated throughout by Searle's drawings. A witty and irreverent glance at the three-hundred-year history of the Hudson's Bay Company, North America's oldest continuing commercial enterprise. Light edgewear to the dust jacket, otherwise a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover. 154 pages. Profusely illustrated in b&w. A collection of cartoons by Andre Francois, whose work often appeared in Punch magazine as well as in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Atlantic Monthly, and Picture Post. Clean, light wear to dust jacket, price clipped.

Hardcover. NY, Harper & Row, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 120 pages. Satirical writing by author. Unlike Al Capp's all cartoon books, this one is a work of prose with occasional comic illustrations, some nearly full page in size. Dust jacket with light shelf wear, unclipped.

Softcover. NY, Workman Publishing, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 223 pages, b&w illustrations. Detailed summaries of the Lost Episodes that are now on TV and descriptions of some that are still lost. The long-awaited, definitive guide to the earliest Honeymooner skits, hidden away by Jackie Gleason himself for more than 30 years. Plot synopses of The Lost Episodes pack as many surprises as Ralph himself, including the origins of the racoon hat and "pow----right in the kisser! " Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Doubleday, Revised Ed., 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, yelow pictorial wrappers, 422 pages illustrated in b&w. Everything you ever could hope to know about 'I Love Lucy'. Behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show. Cast listings, ratings and original air dates. Dialogue and interviews with the stars, writer, directors, producers and more. Mold shelf wear, clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Frederick Warne and Co, reprint, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth stamped in black. 76 pages, seven color plates & numerous b/w illustrations by L. Leslie Brooke. No date, probably 1950s. Small ownership stamp on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, William Morrow, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 8'' x 5 1/4 ''. Contains 92 printed pages of large text with color illustrations throughout.

Hardcover. New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1st, 1946, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, pictorial cardboard covers, unpaginated. Over 250 b&w cartoons from the 40s: Syd Hoff, Soglow, Dave Breger, Ali, E. Simms Campbell, many others. No periodicals credited so assumed their first appearance. In a worn dust jacket with light soil, chipping.

Hardcover. Neshannock PA, Hermes Press, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 254 pages illustrated in color and b&w. Mort Walker, the "Dean of American Cartooning," left behind a legacy that extended far beyond his Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois fame. For the first time ever, Hermes Press and Bill Janocha (Walker's assistant) present a rare selection of gags and art from Walker's early years, before Beetle-mania took over the world. This historical book contains examples of the work he did prior to Beetle Bailey, and explores the evolution of his style and showcases his many gags, from his early comics in Showme magazine to the work he did for the Saturday Evening Post. This tome also contains historical essays detailing his life and career, up until his death in 2018 as written by Janocha. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Phaidon Press, reprint, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 32 pages illustrated by Ungerer. Nice reprint edition in a bright dust jacket.