Cartoons: The Real Stuff till March 26, 2008

I love cartoons and a good cartoon book is a relatively cheap medium to enjoy cartoons. Of course there's the real stuff: instead of buying books, you can buy an authentic cartoon. Fortunately some people do, otherwise all those magnificent cartoonists wouldn't earn a penny.

Nearly 500 drawings of "le crème de la crème" of french cartoonists will be auctioned on March 26 (Millon & Associés).
Some names: Blachon, Serre, Bosc, Bridenne, Siné, Trez, Gourmelin...
For those who want to buy original artwork, the auction is a great opportunity. You can make an offer online. Don't forget to read the "conditions de vente" (terms of sale)! There will be a charge of at least 25%.
Expected prices varie from 100 euro to more than 3000 euro .

The auction is on world-encheres.com.

Jean-Marie, thanks for letting us know!

Independence cartoons

When I type "independence kosovo" in my Google search engine, I get 775.000 hits. "independence kosovo cartoon" gives me 347.000 results... Fortunately, I have the KOSAVA 2006 catalog of the first World Cartoon Festival in Prishtina. Just one 'hit' in my cartoon book collection, but the cartoons about independence and freedom are quite surprising.
I ask myself in what way the cartoons and the cartoon festival in 2006 contributed to the declaration of indepence a few weeks ago? Nevertheless, it's a nice catalog with cartoons to reflect upon.













Read more:
The 2006 award winning cartoons
Kosovacartoon
Cartoonbook file

The cartoon world of William Heath Robinson (1872-1944)

WH Robinson was born in 1872, his father and his two brothers were also artists.
"If my drawings ever had success," said WH Robinson, "it will be not only by the great machinery and insane situations, but also by the style in which they are drawn!" He himself didn’t see the humor of the case, but he was part of it.
Heath Robinson's ideas on topics such as war, sports, household, traffic, etc. still apply nowadays. One thing, however, is required to understand the humor of his drawings : you should take the time for it. This willingness asked the artist also from his family when he called them in his studio to see if a new drawing "worked" fine.
The books below contain a magnificent collection of drawings of the artist, whose name already became a ‘household word’ during his life as a result of his fanciful and intricate drawings of impractical creations.
If a machine or system is “Heath Robinson”, it is very complicated in a way that is funny, but not practical or effective.


When the French cartoonist Albert Robida (born 24 years before Robinson) foretold the chemical, biological and air weapons of a next war, some 30 years before the 1st World War launching, it was just a strange kind of science fiction. When Robinson lets the British make fun of this war’s realities, it is a harder task. However, he succeeds to entertain and enjoy his readers, thanks to the absurdly ingenious devices he used to invent and thanks to his peculiar harmless humour: because, in the flood of the caricatural graphic propaganda of those times, he is one of the very few to have kept an easy-going humour, in spite of the tragic events. This cartoon collection is a perfect example of the famous and inimitable ‘British humour’.



Here are the wonders of many unlikely technologies or, how to use a lot of complicated devices (all absurdly ingenious) for a simple (although sometime useful?!?) result. They are the funny dawn of our actual ‘modern’ achievements.
In the UK, W. Heath Robinson is best known for creating bizarre cartoons contraptions which caused his name to enter the language to describe such funny and odd devices. He was named: ‘the gadget’s king”.
9 other cartoon books by W. Heath Robinson were issued by the same publisher, from 1975 to 1989.

Hereunder a Dutch “Wonderlijke bedenksels” and a German “Die verrüekt perfekte Welt des Heath Robinson” WHR book I bought on e-Bay.


Read more:
Heath Robinson in Wikipedia
The William Heath Robinson Trust
Heath robinson (codebreaking machine)
Contraptions - book review on Li-An's Blog (French)
Some original works and prices
Heath Robinson cartoon search
[4 Heath Robinson Cartoonbook files]

The Guillermo Mordillo Books - part 2

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It took a bit of time, but the Mordillo Cartoonbook files now are available.
Every file provides information about the book such as title, publication year, ISBN, number of pages, number of cartoons, dimensions, weight, ...
The information can be helpful to find a book on the web, buy it, and add it to your cartoonbook collection. Happy bidding!

Read more:
The Guillermo Mordillo Books Part 1
Mordillo book covers
Mordillo cartoonbook files (detailed info on most Mordillo books)
Mordillo publications (official Mordillo website)
Other cartoon books you should know

Perpetuum mobile by Vladimir Rencin

Nice to have friends abroad. A collegue (expat) who knows I collect cartoonbooks, sent me from the Czech Rupublic “perpetuum mobile” (2000) by Vladimir Rencin.
The textless black and white cartoons in this enjoyable book all concern science and the relation between mankind and technology. Even God sometimes appears.
Vladimir Rencin (°1941) completed his studies in economics and became a professional artist in 1965. Vladimir became famous drawing for ‘Mlady svet magazine’ and ‘Lidové noviny’.
He published numerous books and callendars and organized more than 100 independent exhibitions. Abroad he helped illustrate Die Zeit, bild der Wissenschaft and GEO (Germany), New Scientist (UK), Time and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist (USA). Unfortunately there is not so much to find about the artist on the web. His own site is not available in English (what a pitty!).

You can notice some cartoons out of the book on www.rencin.cz

Read more:
Vladimir Rencin's site
You can find the book here
[Perpetuum mobile cartoonbook file]

Ronaldo Cunha Dias - Sorria… Voce Esta em Extincao

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Ronaldo. However, many of the cartoons in this book seemed familiar to me. Many of it were published in the catalogues of the Knokke-Heist Festival. Because they were so good, I could still remember them. I was pleased Jean-Marie introduced this book to me.

"Ronaldo Cunha Dias (Brasil), the surgeon, and Ronaldo, the cartoonist, are the same person. He ‘s born in Vacaria (Brasil) where he is practicing as a doctor for over twenty years. He likes to draw since his childhood; this liking became a permanent passion till today. Usually, one says: cartooning is just a pastime, this hobby which gives him a huge pleasure and its all started in 1985 when he won the first prize “Playboy Magazine Finds New Humorists”. As a result: he regularly publishes his cartoons in this magazine.
From then, he was granted more and more awards, in Brazil and abroad, up to the point of being considered as one of the most awarded Brazilian cartoonist in national and international humor festivals.
Since 1995, he is in charge of Pioneiro, a newspaper in Caxias do Sud, and is a collaborator of Zero Hora, in Porto Alegre. He also publishes in the USA, through the Cartoonist & Writers Syndicate, and in Europe, by Joker Feature Service. He published two other books (0 Homem que Ri and Posso Rir Agora, Doutor), in addition to various participations in collective books."

The Doctor and the "Monster" (translated introductory text)

"No, nothing to do with Dr. Henry Jeckill. I refer to Dr. Ronaldo Cunha Dias, well known, devoted and dear doctor of Vacaria where he lives. His activity as one of the important leaders of the community not to preclude his practice of another activity, with the same dedication, being a cartoonist.
Nor I remember Mr. Edward Hyde (may Robert Louis Stevenson forgive me), because the monster I mention is the one rated in Aurelião as "exceptional artist of great talent ... Person of reputation and prestige that by being praised to the extreme, became not open to criticism, myth, untouchable". And here, yes, everything matches, because this applies to Ronaldo, who, as a cartoonist, is a real "sacred monster" (colossus). And one of the most talented artists of our time. His work has been recognized worldwide for creativity, notable quality of humor and for his special skill as designer, which characterized his work as unusual for its personal expression. -
Ronaldo has received the highest prizes, both national and international. I'll say another time, in another place, a summary of his career's awards: it is a catalog of all the cartoon festivals in the world. His work has appeared in the most famous international publications. His cartoons are regularly published by the Brazilian press, and he is considered as one of the most important national cartoonist.
The Ronaldo Cunha Dias interest in every cartoon matter, is notable. He is always ready to exchange opinion and experience with his colleagues. This is the reason why he has been so frequently asked to represent the Brazilian cartoon in famous international events."

Special thanks to Ronaldo and JM Bertin. Texts translated from Portuguese into English with a little help from Google Translate.

Ronaldo has published 4 books. "Cartunismo Médico" is his most recent book:

Learn more:
Ronaldocartoons.com.br
[Sorria... Voce Esta em Extincao - cartoonbook file]

Congratulations Pol Leurs!

Pol Leurs (Luxemburg) won the third prize "Bronze Hat" at the famous International Cartoon Festival Knokke-Heist 2008. Pol has also a cartoonbook collection and already joined our ECC Cartoonbooks club.
Please visit his brand new website Poleurscartoons and enjoy his cartoons.
Click to see award winning cartoon.

Valentine's Day: Say it with a cartoon(book)

I wish everybody a nice Valentine's Day. Here are two suggestions for those who want to "say it" with a cartoon (book).
Try "Love is ... " by Kim Grove
or, for those who like it more naughty "Paartijd" - "Saison des amours" by the French cartoonist Michel Bridenne.

Learn more:
Love is... official website
[Liefde is... cartoonbooksfile]
[Paartijd cartoonbooksfile]

In memoriam Testu Roger "Tetsu" (1913-2008)

Jean-Marie sent me a mail with the message the famous French cartoonist Tetsu died last week-end. He included 2 pictures of drawings out of his private collection. Tetsu was 94.
Tetsu (who was also a painter, illustrator and novelliste) started drawing in the French press in 1951 (in a total of sixty papers and magazines). He has also drawn in the foreign press: Le Soir (Belgium); Lui, Pardon (Germany); Il travaso (Italy).
In France, he has published 12 cartoon books. The last, in 2004, was entitled "Mauvais Desseins."

In Who's Who in Satire and Humour Band1, I found this information about Tetsu:
Testu's father was a railway inspector who had actually intended his son to become a professor. the son who, for his part, intended to become an artist, pursued both courses, graduating from the Lycee Condorcet and the Faculté des Lettres in Paris, whilst simultaneously studying painting from 1931-1933. The pre-war years were not very successful ones for Testu the artist and, after serving during the war and the period of occupation, he worked as a soap-boiler; becoming the first director of a soap factory, then a dealer in paintings with his own gallery and, finally, commercial director of a company supplying kitchen equipment. In 1953 he gave up his previous activities and began quite out of the blue to draw cartoons which were successful from the very outset. They first appeared in "Noir et Blanc" and soon afterwards also in "Le Figaro Magazine", "France-Dimanche", "Paris Match"... as well as in German and Suiss publications. Apart form his work as an artist and illustrator, he draws advertisements for some big companies. The artist belongs to the so-called Paris School which also includes illustrators as Chaval, Bosc, Trez and Mose. His popularity is founded on the fact that he never draws sex bombs and supermen, but rather Mr. an Mrs. Average types with whom we are all fimiliar.


Read more:
Tetsu article on the blog of cartoonist Mike Lynch
More "Tetsu" cartoons on the Mike Lynch blog
[Who's Who in Satire and Humour Band1 cartoonbook file]

Cartoonbooks in local public libraries 1

Once a month, at least, I visit our public library. It’s always a pleasant experience nosing around discovering new and old books.
It was in the library that I discovered, many years ago, that there existed other cartoonbooks than the Knokke-Heist catalogues, the single cartoonbooks I knew at that moment.
I can state that our library (Wevelgem and Moorsele,Belgium) has a fine book collection. They even have a modest cartoonbook collection. You find them under the categorization code (SISO) 738.8 . Recently a new categorization code is introduced. Now the category is named “About (comic) Strips and Cartoons”.
For the most part the cartoon books are Belgian and they are high-quality. (Knokke-Heist catalogue, Karl Meersman, Pil, O-Sekour, …).
Some foreign books and catalogues would certainly be a valuable extension for the current collection. I am thinking of books of Quino, Mordillo, Serre etc. Perhaps there is a role for us collectors.
Maybe we can deliver valuable suggestions for the development of the public library cartoonbook collections in our town.

What ‘s your opinion?
What cartoonbooks do you find in local public libraries in your country?

Learn more:
Seeking cartoonbooks in the public library of Wevelgem, Belgium (online)