The Great Quillow

James Thurber

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, In

Credos and Curios

Literature & Fiction

Classics

Harpercollins

Lanterns &amp; Lances by Thurber, James. 8vo.

Lanterns & Lances

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Harper Brothers

Thurber Carnival

James Thurber was one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century (and a crack cartoonist to boot). A bestseller upon its initial publication in 1999, The Thurber Carnival captures the depth of his talent and the breadth of his wit. The stories compiled here, almost all of which first appeared in The New Yorker, are from his uproarious and candid collection My World and Welcome to It—including the American classic "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"—as well as from The Owl in the Attic, The Seal in the Bathroom, and Men, Women and Dogs.

The Thurber Carnival

HarperCollins (paper)

“If this book isn’t a minor classic—and one uses the term ‘minor’ only because it is so gorgeously funny and not ponderous enough to be a major—well, one doesn’t know what book is. Let’s compromise and just call it a classic.” --Will Cuppy, New York Herald Tribune
The first book of prose published by either James Thurber or E. B. White, Is Sex Necessary? combines the humor and genius of both authors to examine those great mysteries of life—romance, love, and marriage. A masterpiece of drollery, this 75th Anniversary Edition stands the test of time with its sidesplitting spoof of men, women, and psychologists; more than fifty funny illustrations by Thurber; and a foreword by John Updike.

IS SEX NECESSARY

E·B·White

Perennial

Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated

HarperCollins, Publishers

James Thurber was perhaps the most popular humorist of the first part of the 20th century in the USA. The 1931 collection, THE OWL IN THE ATTIC, that I picked up at a library sale, shows him at his peak as a writer who draws (as opposed to an artist who writes). The book is divided into three sections of essays. There's "Mr and Mrs Monroe", a series of vignettes about a young married couple in New York City. This is Thurber at his most familiar, dealing frankly with the battle of the sexes, depicted here more as a series of friendly skirmishes than as the more misanthropic wars he'd depict later in his career. Oddly, none of the accompanying illustrations depicted the couple themselves. There's "Ladies' and Gentlemen's Guide To Modern English Usage", a series of fractured essays where Thurber twists the rules of grammar in highly inappropriate ways. This is Thurber torturing the English language to hilarious ends, but the accompanying illustrations don't have all that much to do with the actual essays.

The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities

A collection of humorous essays, accompanied by the author's own bizarre drawings, presenting Thurber's unremitting retort to the multitude of "self-help" books which were widespread in the 1930s and whose successors are still with us today.

Let Your Mind Alone! and other more or less inspirational pieces

Originally published in November 1939, two months after World War II officially began, James Thurber's parable in pictures-- a graphic novel ahead of its day--about eternal cycles of war, peace, love, and the resilience of one little flower remains as relevant today as it was then. The New York Times called it "at once one of the most serious and one of the most hilarious contributions on war." Civilization has collapsed after World War XII, dogs have deserted their masters, all the groves and gardens have been destroyed, and love has vanished from the earth. Then one day, "a young girl who had never seen a flower chanced to come upon the last one in the world." Written among the sorrow and chaos of war, dedicated to this only child " in the wistful hope that her world will be better than mine." The new printing will feature new scans of Thurber's original 1939 drawings.

The Last Flower - A Parable in Pictures

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Lampoons medical books in offering a witty commentary on men and women and their doubts, prejudices, and sexual conditioning

Is Sex Necessary?: Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do

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Books by James Thurber