Thurber Thursday: An Annotated Bibliography; Product Watch…A Thurber Quote On A “Martini” Box

Just when I thought I might have a grip on all the Thurber-related books out there (published in the US, that is), I came across a title this morning that somehow has escaped my notice for 40 years:

James Thurber: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism by Sarah Eleanora Toombs (Garland Publishing, 1987).

An online search revealed just one copy available — never a fun result (unless that one copy is “a steal”). As much as I might be tempted to buy it, I’ll enjoy adding the book title to my list of books-I-hope-to-run-into-at-a-used-book-store-or-library-sale some day.

I digress, sort of with this brief tale of a memorable library book sale find.

Years ago I stopped at a library book sale in a tiny town, downeast Maine. The library had spread books out on tables, but had also stacked books, tower-like — perhaps three or four feet high, around the room.

At the very bottom of one of those towers was a copy of the 1929 Gluyas Williams Book, in perfect shape, in its dust jacket.

I suppose my point is: ya never know what you might find.

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Product Watch: A Thurber Quote On A “Martini” Box

Traveling around the internet, it’s always the oddities that give me (make me?) pause. Here’s a Thurber-related item that recently caught my eye:

a pill box listed on Ebay that is described as a “Martini” Box.

I was hoping there’d be Thurber drawings on the box — wouldn’t that have been great! Alas. However, a somewhat popular Thurber quote does occupy a special place on the inside of the lid.

The fellow pictured on the outside of the box bears a slight resemblance to The New Yorker‘s founder and first editor, Harold Ross. But it’s likely — as the Three Stooges might’ve said — just a coinkydink.

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James Thurber’s A-Z Entry

James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website