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The New Yorker: Encyclopedia of Cartoons /anglais
This monumental, two-volume collection includes nearly 10 decades worth of New Yorker cartoons selected and organized by subject with insightful commentary by Bob Mankoff and a foreword by David Remnick.
The is the most ingenious collection of New Yorker cartoons published in book form, The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons is a prodigious, slip-cased, two-volume, 1,600-page A-to-Z curation of cartoons from the magazine from 1924 to the present. Mankoff--for two decades the cartoon editor of the New Yorker--organizes nearly 3,000 cartoons into more than 250 categories of recurring New Yorker themes and visual tropes, including cartoons on banana peels, meeting St. Peter, being stranded on a desert island, snowmen, lion tamers, Adam and Eve, the Grim Reaper, and dogs, of course. The result is hilarious and Mankoff's commentary throughout adds both depth and whimsy. The collection also includes a foreword by New Yorker editor David Remnick. This is stunning gift for the millions of New Yorker readers and anyone looking for some humor in the evolution of social commentary.
The is the most ingenious collection of New Yorker cartoons published in book form, The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons is a prodigious, slip-cased, two-volume, 1,600-page A-to-Z curation of cartoons from the magazine from 1924 to the present. Mankoff--for two decades the cartoon editor of the New Yorker--organizes nearly 3,000 cartoons into more than 250 categories of recurring New Yorker themes and visual tropes, including cartoons on banana peels, meeting St. Peter, being stranded on a desert island, snowmen, lion tamers, Adam and Eve, the Grim Reaper, and dogs, of course. The result is hilarious and Mankoff's commentary throughout adds both depth and whimsy. The collection also includes a foreword by New Yorker editor David Remnick. This is stunning gift for the millions of New Yorker readers and anyone looking for some humor in the evolution of social commentary.
1536 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
256 people are currently reading
266 people want to read
About the author
Robert Mankoff
39 books13 followersRobert Mankoff is an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for nearly twenty years. Before he succeeded Lee Lorenz as cartoon editor at The New Yorker, Mankoff was a New Yorker cartoonist for twenty years.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 1, 2024
An entertaining compilation of almost 3000 The New Yorker cartoons (1925-2017) organized according to theme! I enjoyed reading both the Foreword by David Remnick and the Introduction by Bob Mankoff.
Perfect for light reading or as a palate cleanser or simply when you need a laugh! I read this one over a period of almost 3 years (1500+ pages) in between my other reads and enjoyed every minute of it!
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
Perfect for light reading or as a palate cleanser or simply when you need a laugh! I read this one over a period of almost 3 years (1500+ pages) in between my other reads and enjoyed every minute of it!
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
January 5, 2024
5 stars
Nearly 3000 cartoons organized into 250 categories on 1500 pages.
Some categories are introduced by an entry as kind of a commentary.
Superb collection.
Nearly 3000 cartoons organized into 250 categories on 1500 pages.
Some categories are introduced by an entry as kind of a commentary.
Superb collection.
March 18, 2021
The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons, Deluxe Edition: A Semi-serious A-to-Z Archive is 1500 pages of New Yorker cartoons.
The Encyclopedia part of the name is a bit misleading. It's more a collection of cartoons organized alphabetically by topic, from Accountants to Zorro. The collection is in two massive volumes in a slipcase but I think four would have been easier to manage.
Some of the cartoons are hilarious, feeling like Far Side cartoons more than anything else. A small percentage are indecipherable. I was continuously reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine contributed a cartoon to the New Yorker.
Some of the topics, like politicians, accountants, insurance, and computers, are common comedy fodder. Others are more esoteric and I wonder how they had enough cartoons to fill up six to eight pages, like centaurs, Easter Island, and kayaks, for example. Four out of five stars.
The Encyclopedia part of the name is a bit misleading. It's more a collection of cartoons organized alphabetically by topic, from Accountants to Zorro. The collection is in two massive volumes in a slipcase but I think four would have been easier to manage.
Some of the cartoons are hilarious, feeling like Far Side cartoons more than anything else. A small percentage are indecipherable. I was continuously reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine contributed a cartoon to the New Yorker.
Some of the topics, like politicians, accountants, insurance, and computers, are common comedy fodder. Others are more esoteric and I wonder how they had enough cartoons to fill up six to eight pages, like centaurs, Easter Island, and kayaks, for example. Four out of five stars.
August 16, 2022
1516 pages of fun!
December 27, 2020
Über 1400 Seiten voller Cartoons, gesammelt während der gesamten Erscheinungszeit von The New Yorker. Dieser Schuber mit zwei wunderbar aufgemachten Bänden ist eine herrliche Ergänzung für das Regal. Schmuck sieht der Ziegelstein aus, humorvoll wird auf den Seiten dem damaligen und heutigen Zeitgeist nachgegangen.
Zwar ist der Titel "The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons: A Semi-serious A-to-Z Archive" nicht ganz korrekt, findet man hier niemals alle veröffentlichten Cartoons, sondern bloss eine gelungene Auswahl - doch das stört niemanden. Denn mit thematischer Bündelung und ergänzenden Zwischentexten ist dies ein Werk, in dem man sich immer wieder vertiefen und verlieren kann. Die Augen werden einem sowieso geöffnet und die Mundwinkel nach oben gezogen.
Zwar ist der Titel "The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons: A Semi-serious A-to-Z Archive" nicht ganz korrekt, findet man hier niemals alle veröffentlichten Cartoons, sondern bloss eine gelungene Auswahl - doch das stört niemanden. Denn mit thematischer Bündelung und ergänzenden Zwischentexten ist dies ein Werk, in dem man sich immer wieder vertiefen und verlieren kann. Die Augen werden einem sowieso geöffnet und die Mundwinkel nach oben gezogen.
February 22, 2019
Fun.
This two-set oversized, fifteen-pound collection of three thousand cartoons from The New Yorker breaks down into three hundred topics, such as clowns, klutzes, laughter and writers.
To avoid a numbing or overindulgence, read and skip around in spurts, suggests David Remnick, editor of the magazine for thirty years. I cheerfully ignored that advice and plowed straight through, grinning, smiling and laughing from A to Z over a few weekends.
Almost a hundred years ago, The New Yorker modernized previous wordy “drawings” with single-panel cartoons, most of them with a pithy punchline. The words and illustrations carry equal weight, but not always.
Over time, it became a routine for the magazine’s editor to meet on Wednesday afternoons with the cartoon editor to pick out fifteen from a stack of hundred for the next issue.
People cartooning today stand on the shoulders of those who came before, writes Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor for twenty years. And from there it is shoulders all the way down to those who left their work in the caves at Lascaux, adds Mankoff. (Very Semi-Serious released four years ago as a documentary about Bob Mankoff, other cartoonists and cartooning at The New Yorker. Great fun at the Milwaukee Film Festival that year. Time to see it again.)
Every now and then through these fifteen-hundred pages, a paragraph or two of text will put the work into context. For example:
— The internet turned us into writers of quips, barbs and captions.
— Cartoonists serve as jesters, speaking truth to power, hoping that laughter can keep us humble, whatever our pomp or circumstance.
— Cartoonists develop a keen eye for hypocrisy.
— A good cartoon can quickly show a truth about human nature. The humor comes from a complicated problem with a surprisingly simple solution.
A terrific collection. A hundred years from now, when The Yorker publishes a second edition of this encyclopedia, I would enjoy a quick essay about the trends over time, including the drawing styles and the cartoonists.
This two-set oversized, fifteen-pound collection of three thousand cartoons from The New Yorker breaks down into three hundred topics, such as clowns, klutzes, laughter and writers.
To avoid a numbing or overindulgence, read and skip around in spurts, suggests David Remnick, editor of the magazine for thirty years. I cheerfully ignored that advice and plowed straight through, grinning, smiling and laughing from A to Z over a few weekends.
Almost a hundred years ago, The New Yorker modernized previous wordy “drawings” with single-panel cartoons, most of them with a pithy punchline. The words and illustrations carry equal weight, but not always.
Over time, it became a routine for the magazine’s editor to meet on Wednesday afternoons with the cartoon editor to pick out fifteen from a stack of hundred for the next issue.
People cartooning today stand on the shoulders of those who came before, writes Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor for twenty years. And from there it is shoulders all the way down to those who left their work in the caves at Lascaux, adds Mankoff. (Very Semi-Serious released four years ago as a documentary about Bob Mankoff, other cartoonists and cartooning at The New Yorker. Great fun at the Milwaukee Film Festival that year. Time to see it again.)
Every now and then through these fifteen-hundred pages, a paragraph or two of text will put the work into context. For example:
— The internet turned us into writers of quips, barbs and captions.
— Cartoonists serve as jesters, speaking truth to power, hoping that laughter can keep us humble, whatever our pomp or circumstance.
— Cartoonists develop a keen eye for hypocrisy.
— A good cartoon can quickly show a truth about human nature. The humor comes from a complicated problem with a surprisingly simple solution.
A terrific collection. A hundred years from now, when The Yorker publishes a second edition of this encyclopedia, I would enjoy a quick essay about the trends over time, including the drawing styles and the cartoonists.
June 9, 2025
I have always enjoyed The New Yorker cartoons, and it was a delight to have many of them gathered in one place as an encyclopedia. One insight for me was that I could finally understand the unique style of some of their cartoonists. Two other insights were about the older cartoons (e.g. prior to 1980):
1. How many of them were simpler in context than the newer ones
2. How many of them were still relevant to this day
This is a good book to go through once in a while, and let yourself immerse in the cartoons and their witty and insightful world. I found it as a source of meditation. Below I am bringing a few pieces from Bob Mankoff:
1. How many of them were simpler in context than the newer ones
2. How many of them were still relevant to this day
This is a good book to go through once in a while, and let yourself immerse in the cartoons and their witty and insightful world. I found it as a source of meditation. Below I am bringing a few pieces from Bob Mankoff:
Slapstick humor is hardwired into the human brain so fully that even a baby will laugh when its parent pretends to fall (or, much to the chagrin of the parent, when he or she falls for real). It’s the original subversion of expectations: A person is walking. Until—whoops!—he is not! Hilarious!
If you can’t beat them, draw them.
The storefront psychic promises relief from uncertainty. We know she’s a sham, but a little part of us hopes that maybe, just maybe, she’s got the goods. Cartoons depicting the psychic and her customer allow us to laugh knowingly at the dupe in the mark’s chair, but they also allow us tolaugh a little at ourselves
Superheroes are idiots with magical powers who are, usually, taken way too seriously. That makes them perfect targets for gags.
Comedy often arises from the contrast between what we are and what we pretend to be, but it can also arise from the snappy reduction—the sense of a complicated problem that turns out to have a surprisingly simple solution.
January 20, 2020
As good as you'd expect, although this is more of a sampling of all the various cartoon topics over the years rather than an encyclopedia, which to me implies something more comprehensive. They could have done an entire volume on desert island cartoons, I expect. It was a treat to see all the variations on these reliable ideas. On the other hand, I did notice an utter lack of diversity in the cartoons, something I was surprised that the New Yorker hasn't worked harder to rectify, as left-leaning as it is.
December 24, 2022
You're born, you deconstruct your childhood, and then you die
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December 21, 2021The perfect book to keep on a coffee table and flip through during any free slot. It is like a time capsule (or not) because cartoons from decades back sound alarmingly contemporary. The entries are quirky enough to keep you flitting without boredom and any randomly opened page elicits a chuckle, a raised eyebrow and maybe even a click on the phone camera to share on Facebook. [Incidentally, there are entries on ‘photography’ and ‘Facebook’, among others.]
It could be a perfect gift… long-lasting, great-looking, with something for every occasion! The only drawback? At 1500 glossy pages spread over two gigantic volumes, it’s not something you can curl up with. It demands your undivided attention where you place the volume in front and flip through ‘Greek myths’ (and a separate section on ‘Narcissus’ and ‘Trojan horse’), ‘Rapunzel’, ‘Optimists vs Pessimists’ and even – in odes to the magazine’s hometown – ‘New York’ and ‘The New York Times’!
It could be a perfect gift… long-lasting, great-looking, with something for every occasion! The only drawback? At 1500 glossy pages spread over two gigantic volumes, it’s not something you can curl up with. It demands your undivided attention where you place the volume in front and flip through ‘Greek myths’ (and a separate section on ‘Narcissus’ and ‘Trojan horse’), ‘Rapunzel’, ‘Optimists vs Pessimists’ and even – in odes to the magazine’s hometown – ‘New York’ and ‘The New York Times’!
July 28, 2023
I got this through my library and discovered that it was in fact only volume 1, which was until the end of 'k.' The cartoons are arranged alphabetically by topic, with some of the topics being common things that you would expect (like the grim reaper or slipping on a banana peel) and some being a little stranger (like the blue bird of happiness or Edgar Allen Poe). There is also occasional commentary noting how things have changed over time. For instance, a cartoon about a desert island is no longer just about a desert island, it's about cartoons of desert islands because there have been so many of them.
I read this as part of my on going pursuit of Charles Addams and his work and legacy. There were several of his cartoons in volume 1 but none of the family (which I think are all tied up with legal troubles.)
I read this as part of my on going pursuit of Charles Addams and his work and legacy. There were several of his cartoons in volume 1 but none of the family (which I think are all tied up with legal troubles.)
September 7, 2020
Às vezes, basta uma expressão facial, duas ou três palavras e já está, percebemos tudo e rimos e rimos. A leitura desta enciclopédia de cartons veio mesmo a talho de foice porque durante o confinamento de 3 meses em casa, percebi que o sentido de humor varia enormemente de pessoa para pessoa; as fotografias e pequenos vídeos que caricaturavam o confinamento e que nos inundaram o WhatsApp e o correio eletrónico foram percecionadas de formas muito diferentes. Por exemplo, a foto do primeiro ministro António Costa de pé no púlpito do parlamento, todo desgrenhado a anunciar "2ª-feira abrem os cabeleireiros!" fez-me rir a bandeiras despregadas. No entanto, inexplicavelmente [ ;-) ], muitos dos meus conhecidos não lhe acharam qualquer graça...
April 19, 2025
A Seemingly Large Collection…
…But there is a little Redundancy withs some Whole Cartoons, & some ideas, which may have been included for diversity ( ? )
The Other Big annoyance is that The pages should have been formatted & scanned for each book page, to avoid The image being separated from The caption too often ( ! ) I think it may have been possible to fix this sort of thing with internal captioning, such as ‘newpage’ or ‘nobreak’, but treating each page like a magazine page would probably be easier ( ? )
…But there is a little Redundancy withs some Whole Cartoons, & some ideas, which may have been included for diversity ( ? )
The Other Big annoyance is that The pages should have been formatted & scanned for each book page, to avoid The image being separated from The caption too often ( ! ) I think it may have been possible to fix this sort of thing with internal captioning, such as ‘newpage’ or ‘nobreak’, but treating each page like a magazine page would probably be easier ( ? )
January 8, 2022
technically i only read the first volume. occasionally the comics would be entertaining, but i was also reading them before falling asleep and i’m sure many of the innuendos and quips in the comics did not stick with me the way they were meant to.
i did enjoy the various categories, however. there were some classics (cat v. dog, bars) and some unconventional (knitting, for one) but all were entertaining and i chuckled throughout the book.
i did enjoy the various categories, however. there were some classics (cat v. dog, bars) and some unconventional (knitting, for one) but all were entertaining and i chuckled throughout the book.
November 13, 2022
Sometimes funny. Always interesting. At least one artist is not to my liking, maybe two.
But who cares? Something for everyone, here. At least one laugh out loud moment every ten pages.
Great coffee table book. Great conversation starter. Funnier than anyone on late night and no COVID/Hunter/Riot jokes or references. Thank God.
But who cares? Something for everyone, here. At least one laugh out loud moment every ten pages.
Great coffee table book. Great conversation starter. Funnier than anyone on late night and no COVID/Hunter/Riot jokes or references. Thank God.
November 4, 2025
Excellent
Great cartoons that actually make you laugh out loud. I'll be looking back through this several more times. It's wonderful to see cartoons from some of the greats like Graham Wilson and Charles Addams. Whenever I saw a copy of the New Yorker the first thing I did was look at the cartoons.
Great cartoons that actually make you laugh out loud. I'll be looking back through this several more times. It's wonderful to see cartoons from some of the greats like Graham Wilson and Charles Addams. Whenever I saw a copy of the New Yorker the first thing I did was look at the cartoons.
August 21, 2021
Amusing selections from The New Yorker.
Sometimes, because of the "age" of the cartoon, the selection wasn't funny, or I thought "Gee, I just don't get it--it doesn't mean anything to me at all."
Sometimes, because of the "age" of the cartoon, the selection wasn't funny, or I thought "Gee, I just don't get it--it doesn't mean anything to me at all."
September 25, 2025
Chuckles
Quite a few ironic smile, a chuckle or two, and !any groans. No value added by Mankoff's mansplaining. If you read the New Yorker, you probably don't really need the cartoon commentary.
Quite a few ironic smile, a chuckle or two, and !any groans. No value added by Mankoff's mansplaining. If you read the New Yorker, you probably don't really need the cartoon commentary.
January 21, 2019
It's a massive two-volume tome of cartoons (covering just about every subject) from The New Yorker, what's not to like about that?
November 17, 2020
I’d die happy reading these.
November 23, 2021
Goodness, that was epic. What a great collection to browse with my Saturday morning coffee. Lots of chuckles and mild *sniffs* from my nose.
December 9, 2021
That was a huge one
September 6, 2022
If you love New Yorker cartoons like I do then this collection is a must have!
June 16, 2023
Spoiler free review 🤗
January 20, 2024
A must read for any fan of New Yorker cartoons.
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January 8, 2025Not sure who this massive two-tome book is for—it’s not a through reference work of the magazine’s cartoons, and it’s almost too large to simply casually flip through.
May 26, 2019
This is a hefty two-volume compilation of the best New Yorker magazine cartoons dating from 1924-present. If you enjoy The New Yorker’s cartoons, you will appreciate these encyclopedic volumes. My mother subscribed to TNY magazine when I was growing up, and I became a fan of their cartoons early on. When my county library system’s online newsletter mentioned their acquisition of this set, I put a hold on it and waited for it to arrive at my local library branch. When the big day arrived, I checked out the two-book set and lugged the books to my car. I couldn’t believe how heavy they were, and I was glad that my car was not parked too far away. The two volumes were so heavy that I decided to weigh them on a scale when I got home.
They weighed in at a whopping 7.5 lbs apiece, a total of 15 lbs for the set. These are not volumes to casually toss into one’s backpack or beach bag. They are too heavy even to easily hold in one’s hands to read. The best way I found to read them was propped up on a pillow in my lap. The pillow helped prevent the volume from cutting off the circulation in my legs!
Now that the books' unwieldiness has been established, I will say that the contents were fun to read. Each volume is beautifully bound, and printed on high quality, heavy paper. The cartoons are alphabetically arranged by category. There are 250 categories, such as, Accountants, Baseball, Cowboys, Fortune-tellers, Humpty-Dumpty, Pirates, Quicksand, Snowmen, etc... Of course some of the cartoons are funnier than others, but each time I sat down with a volume, I invariably found myself cackling away. 1600 pages and 3000 cartoons later, both my sense of humor and my biceps have received a good workout.
They weighed in at a whopping 7.5 lbs apiece, a total of 15 lbs for the set. These are not volumes to casually toss into one’s backpack or beach bag. They are too heavy even to easily hold in one’s hands to read. The best way I found to read them was propped up on a pillow in my lap. The pillow helped prevent the volume from cutting off the circulation in my legs!
Now that the books' unwieldiness has been established, I will say that the contents were fun to read. Each volume is beautifully bound, and printed on high quality, heavy paper. The cartoons are alphabetically arranged by category. There are 250 categories, such as, Accountants, Baseball, Cowboys, Fortune-tellers, Humpty-Dumpty, Pirates, Quicksand, Snowmen, etc... Of course some of the cartoons are funnier than others, but each time I sat down with a volume, I invariably found myself cackling away. 1600 pages and 3000 cartoons later, both my sense of humor and my biceps have received a good workout.
January 16, 2019
It’s a fun read to have access to hundreds of the best cartoons of The New Yorker. The editors grouped the collection around themes, making us aware of the diversity of themes in the cartoons. I suppose that we could fill up all of our GoodReads space with analysis. It’s better to just enjoy the humor that is made possible by the words and the art work.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews