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Sale 2574 | Lot 279
Additional images and condition
Sale 2574 - Lot 279
"Laissez faire and let laissez faire is what I believe in." Cartoon for The New Yorker, published September 26, 1942. Reproduced in Thurber's Men, Women, and Dogs (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1943). Pen and ink over graphite with correction fluid on paper. 190x278 mm; 7 1/2x11 inches, on 8 1/2x11-inch sheet. Signed "James Thurber" in lower right image, captioned in graphite in lower margin. Hinged to matte and archivally framed with museum glass. See condition report. A printed copy of the magazine accompanies the lot.
Sheet is heavily toned and abraded, especially in upper left corner. Punctures to lamp shade at center and woman's chest. Bucket at left was modified, likely by artist, and it differs from final published image. Small tear, approximately ¼-inch, on right edge next to lamp shade. Moderate matte burn. Verso has dried and discolored adhesive residue at all corners with NYer stamp and inventory number. "Take out second growler?" written in graphite on verso at upper right.
Thurber and the New Yorker editors disagreed over the presence of the ice bucket/"growler" and agreed to take it out for the published cartoon, but Thurber drew it in again afterwards (which is why there are layers of correction).