Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The April 15, 1939 issue of The New Yorker with a cover by William Steig sits at one of the most historically charged moments of the entire twentieth century. By April 1939, the European situation had deteriorated dramatically even from the crisis point of the previous autumn's Munich Agreement. Germany had violated the Munich terms and occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 — just one month before this issue's publication date — making clear to any honest observer that appeasement had failed and that the war most people had been hoping to prevent was now essentially inevitable. Italy had invaded Albania on April 7, just eight days before this cover date. In Washington, President Roosevelt was pressing Congress for neutrality law revisions. In New York, the World's Fair — with its optimistic theme of "The World of Tomorrow" — was preparing to open on April 30, creating the surreal spectacle of a civilization simultaneously celebrating its technological future and confronting its political catastrophe. The New Yorker's April 15, 1939 issue was published into that exact tension, and its cover — whatever Steig chose to depict — would have been read against that backdrop by every one of its sophisticated, internationally aware readers. Collectors who follow the magazine's visual program across this pivotal prewar period will find the full arc of that history documented throughout the New Yorker collection at OriginalMagazines.com.
William Steig's contribution to this issue represents his ninth year of association with The New Yorker, having begun contributing in 1930. By April 1939 he was thirty-two years old and had developed the observational precision and emotional warmth that would define his work across a career spanning more than seven decades with the magazine. The contrast between Steig's characteristic humanity — his covers and cartoons consistently found the comedy and pathos in ordinary human situations — and the historical catastrophe unfolding in Europe gives this particular issue a quality that is difficult to articulate but immediately felt by anyone who looks at it knowing the date. It is the work of an artist committed to finding the human comedy in daily life, published on a specific Tuesday in April when that daily life was about to be permanently interrupted for much of the world. The broader cultural and historical context of this last full spring of European peace is captured in the 1939 magazines collection, which documents the full arc of a year that began in anxious uncertainty and ended with the world at war.
About the Publication
The New Yorker was founded in New York in 1925 by Harold Ross with the explicit intention of creating a magazine of sophisticated urban wit and literary quality aimed at a cosmopolitan readership rather than the rural mainstream. By April 1939, the magazine had been publishing for fourteen years and had fully established the editorial voice, visual identity, and roster of contributors that defined its golden period. Its format combined long-form journalism, short fiction, poetry, and cultural criticism with the "Talk of the Town" section, cartoons, and the weekly cover — which functioned as a standalone artwork conceived independently of the issue's editorial content. Its readership was educated, urban, and self-consciously cosmopolitan — precisely the audience most attuned to the European crisis developing in the spring of 1939 — making the magazine's April 15 issue a particularly revealing document of how America's intellectual class was living and thinking in the last weeks before the world changed irrevocably.
Key Highlights Inside
- William Steig cover art — A cover by one of the most significant cartoonists in American cultural history, produced in his ninth year of association with the magazine, at a moment of profound historical tension between the warmth of his characteristic subject matter and the catastrophic events unfolding in Europe.
- April 15, 1939 — one month after Germany occupied Czechoslovakia — Published at a specific and historically charged moment, with the failure of appeasement now undeniable and the New York World's Fair about to open with its optimistic vision of the future, the issue captures the particular cognitive dissonance of American life in the final spring before the war.
- Late-1930s literary and cultural content — Consistent with the magazine's well-documented format of the period, the issue would have included short fiction, poetry, cultural criticism, Talk of the Town observations, and cartoons reflecting Harold Ross's editorial standards during one of the magazine's most creatively rich periods.
- Note: Specific interior article titles, fiction contributors, and additional content have not been independently confirmed for this issue. The highlights above reflect the well-documented editorial format of The New Yorker during this period and the verifiable identity of the cover artist and historical moment.
Condition & Rarity
Issues of The New Yorker from April 1939 are eighty-six years old, and the paper stock used in the magazine's weekly production during this era was not manufactured with archival preservation in mind. When evaluating any surviving copy of this issue, the attributes that matter most to serious collectors are the condition of the Steig cover art — its color integrity, surface cleanliness, and freedom from significant staining, tearing, or fading — the structural integrity of the spine and staple binding, and the completeness of interior pages. The good condition noted for a publication of this age indicates a survivor in the better range of what typically circulates for late-1930s New Yorker issues. Any edge wear, tanning, or minor foxing consistent with eighty-six years of existence is an expected characteristic of an authentic publication of this age and does not meaningfully diminish its collectible or historical value. The quality and integrity of the Steig cover image is the primary variable collectors should assess through available photographs.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Late-1930s issues of The New Yorker with William Steig covers — published in the tense final months before the outbreak of the Second World War — are among the more historically resonant and genuinely uncommon finds in American magazine collecting, and the April 15, 1939 issue is a particularly charged example. If it is currently unavailable, the New Yorker collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the best place to browse what has recently surfaced from across the magazine's remarkable publishing history. Collectors with a broader interest in the print culture of this last prewar year should also explore the 1939 magazines collection for a wider view of American media during the year the world went to war.