Comic Art at Princeton University

For many years the renowned cartoonist Henry Martin has been an expert advisor and a generous donor to the Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library. He has guided the growth of our collections and supported our attempts to make them better known. In 1996 we asked him to explore our holdings of humorous art and to choose his favorite examples for this online exhibition. These are his selections, each accompanied with his commentary (in italics), explaining how they achieve their comic effects and recounting some of the cartoonist's tricks of the trade. Few cartoonists have been as successful in this demanding trade as Mr. Martin, who was a regular contributor to The New Yorker from 1964 until his retirement in 1995. His work has appeared in a number of distinguished anthologies and in three uproarious collections, All Those in Favor (1969), Yak! Yak! Yak! Blah! Blah! Blah! (1977), and Good News/Bad News (1977). We are very grateful for his advice and his numerous gifts to the Graphic Arts Collection, some of which are displayed here. He has also drawn the original artwork for the home page, with vignettes identifying different portions of the exhibit.