ADDAMS’ APPLE: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams, making people laugh during Yule is a mitzvah

ADDAMS’ APPLE: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams
CHARLED ADDAMS (Foreword by Sarah M. Henry; Preface by Lucy Sante)
Pomegranate
$29.95 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: AMUSINGLY STRANGE and curiously compelling, Charles Addams' cartoons give a sly wink and a nod to scenes of everyday life in New York, Addams-style. His dark wit and deft hand lend themselves to subterranean themes of love and relationships, secrets and obsessions, subway stations and Lady Liberty. In Addams' Apple: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams, we witness an artist inspired by the quirks of his fellow New Yorkers and the singular nature of their city-itself one of Addams' characters.

In her foreword, Sarah M. Henry (Museum of the City of New York) highlights Addams' offbeat insights into the institutions and mindsets that define the city's culture. Lucy Sante's preface explores Addams' unique place in American culture.

Addams' Apple presents more than 150 cartoons created by "Chas" Addams (American, 1912-1988) throughout his prolific career; some have never been published before. More of the artist's work can be seen in The Addams Family: An Evilution (Pomegranate, 2010).

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Do you need anything other than "one hundred fifty Charles Addams cartoons for thirty bucks" to send you to the buy link above? Maybe "hardcover edition" will light the fire. Lucy Sante wrote a bangin' preface? What more do you need to know? There is so much anyone from NYC will nod along to; some more timeless than others, but if you're my age absolutely every one of these glimpses into the soul/abyss of New York's biggest city is evocative, wryly amusing, and/or laugh-out-loud hilarious.

The gifting season is a great time to offer this aide-memoire to the fled, the settled, or the aspiring New Yorker. Anyone interested in Charles Addams and his art chops would love it, too. Aspiring artist? Ideal! Tyro comedian? Maybe a bit advanced, but I firmly believe aspirational gifts of perfect mastery in the chosen artform are genuinely helpful to the beginner. Enjoy these three images provided by Pomegranate:


If these stir no mirth in you, check for a pulse.