Book: Norman Rockwell - 332 Magazine Covers

I'm selling a large 1979 book of Norman Rockwell cover reproductions!

Until last year, this book remained unexamined since probably 1984. So, why have I been carrying this large, 12" x 15.5", 12-pound art book to and from every single residence in my adult life? Why else? - nostalgic attachment. I was a kid who liked to draw and also had a weird obsession about the 1930s/40s era, so my mother  picked this up for my birthday. I think I was 11.

However. That was a long time ago and the emotional string attachment has long since frayed and snapped. Yet I hung onto the book for years thinking I might be able to sell it for a few bucks, maybe to a used art book shop. But I always felt discouraged from bothering because, I'd imagine a guy in an ironic early-'60s haircut turning his nose up at me for offering him something so offensively un-cool. 

A guy writing at Three Magi explains this well: "In Postmodernism the work of art must stand on it’s own, the author is irrelevant. It wasn’t Rockwell’s uncool subject matter or uncool ability to paint that made him so vile to the Modernists. Rockwell was an 'illustrator,' which back in the 1950’s was bad, very bad. Back then, selling your work meant that people liked it and understood it…bad, very bad. Art was only supossed to be understood by a handful of intellectuals on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Anything that could be appreciated by the masses was crass, worse, it was kitsch." 

Norman Rockwell was possibly the squarest artist of the 20th century (the guy wore bow-ties!), with his sentimental scenes of everyday American life, which graced the covers of the Saturday Eveing Post from 19-pretelevision to 19-whatever. But the man was insanely talented. As a kid, I would stare at some of these scale-sized colour plates and be amazed at the level of photo realism in some of his work. And most of his "scenes" have entertaiment value in the way they suggest a narrative beyond the single panel.

The book is officially called Norman Rockwell: 332 Magazine Covers, and was printed in New York in 1979, under the Abbeville Press/Random House imprint. Abbeville still publishes an updated (2005) edition of this title, but pfffft it's not a first edition like mine is. Out of 445 pages, 332 contain full-size, full-colour reproductions of Rockwell magazine covers. Each image has an explanation. One I always liked was "Willie Gillis At College" (1946), which tells an entire life story about this student and his post-war life by the subtle hints found in his dorm room. Mostly, Rockwell is known for stuff like "The Runaway."

I am letting this book go for $40. There are 50 copies listed on AbeBooks. 1/5th are $40 or less, 50% are $45-$100. And 14 copies are over $100, the highest being ... $406! (and guess where it's being sold for this price? The Modernist enclave of New York City). Ebay has similar stats. 



I think my price gives you an idea how willing I am to not carry this object during my next move. I don't think I will let this big coffee-table book go for less unless enough time passes without an offer and I reach a stage of complete demoralization. Then I may as well just leave it on the doorstep of a Goodwill. You could wait me out and snatch it up for $2, but then that seems like a lot of needless work on your part, as well as very little certainty. Think of it, then, as a $2 book with a $38 convenience fee.

My copy is in solid condition, clean pages, pointy corners. However, the dust jacket has taken one for the team and shows obvious signs of having protected its insides for 30 years: mostly wrinkles, slight shifting of the original jacket alignment, and a few small blue scuffs on the back. It's not bad, there are no weird stains on it, no big creases through the middle, and the only tear is a single one at the bottom, about 2 cm long.


The worst it gets.

I would really, really prefer to unload this object locally, in Toronto, than to deal with shipping and all that (especially for this 12-pounder).


Email me if you're interested. Or leave a comment with your own story of connection with this same Rockwell book, if you have your own copy.


P.S.: All this Rockwell talk reminds me that there was some guy named Rockwell, who recorded a hit single in 1984 called "Somebody's Watching Me." But I don't mean to confuse you here: this book is not a biography of one-hit wonder Rockwell; I said it's 445 pages remember, not 3.