Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
This issue features cover art by Perry Barlow, one of the most prolific and beloved illustrators in The New Yorker's history, at a point when he was deep into a tenure with the magazine that would ultimately span nearly five decades. Barlow contributed to The New Yorker as a cartoonist and cover artist from 1930 to 1974, one of the longest sustained relationships any artist maintained with the publication. Over that span he produced 1,574 drawings and 135 covers for the magazine, a body of work that places him among the small handful of artists most closely identified with the publication's visual identity during its mid-century golden age. A November 1, 1947 issue featuring his cover work sits within that long, well-documented career, capturing his style at a point when both his cartooning and cover illustration had reached full maturity. For collectors of The New Yorker's classic covers, a confirmed Barlow cover from this period represents an authentic example of the kind of gentle, observational humor that made his work distinctive within the magazine's broader stable of artists.
Barlow's working method involved a notable personal detail that gives his covers a particular collaborative history worth understanding. Barlow was partly color-blind, and as a result his wife, the illustrator Dorothy Hope Smith, handled the coloring on his New Yorker covers throughout much of his career. Smith was herself an accomplished commercial illustrator, best known as the artist behind the original Gerber Baby illustration, created from a charcoal sketch she submitted to a 1928 advertising contest. The couple had married in 1922 and worked from their home in Westport, Connecticut, pursuing parallel but distinct illustration careers under the same roof for decades. A Barlow New Yorker cover from this era is therefore, in a quiet but genuine sense, a collaborative artifact between two working illustrators, rather than the product of a single hand, even though only Barlow's name appears in the credit.
Barlow's reputation within the magazine's own internal culture was substantial, reflecting both the volume and the tone of his contributions. Following Barlow's death in 1977, New Yorker editor William Shawn described him as one of the gentlest and most humane of all comic artists, while also noting he was one of the magazine's three or four most prolific contributors. Cartoon editor Lee Lorenz later wrote that Barlow's drawings were deceptively casual, bringing a gentle urbanity to the magazine's pages that helped establish its broader tone during the era in which he worked. Barlow's influence extended beyond the page as well; he served as an early mentor to at least one later professional cartoonist who grew up near him in Westport, Connecticut, where Barlow lived for much of his career. A November 1947 issue featuring his cover work is therefore a documented example of the specific artistic sensibility that contemporaries and editors alike singled out as one of the defining tones of the magazine's mid-century identity, useful to anyone researching 1947 magazines and the broader history of American magazine illustration.
About the Publication
The New Yorker has been published continuously since 1925 and built its reputation on a distinctive combination of long-form journalism, fiction, criticism, and cartoons, all wrapped in cover art that became one of the magazine's most recognizable signatures. Unlike many general-interest magazines of the era, The New Yorker's covers rarely featured photography or celebrity imagery, instead commissioning original illustrations from a roster of artists whose individual styles became closely associated with the publication itself. Its audience skewed urban, literary, and culturally engaged, and by the late 1940s the magazine had firmly established itself as a benchmark for sophisticated American prose and visual wit. The magazine's art department during this period operated under longtime Art Editor James Geraghty, who served in that role from 1939 to 1973 and worked to bring cohesiveness to the cartoon and cover selection process across the contributions of dozens of regular artists.
Key Highlights Inside
- Original cover artwork by Perry Barlow, one of 135 covers he produced for The New Yorker over a 44-year tenure with the magazine spanning 1930 to 1974. This cover sits within one of the longest and most prolific artist relationships in the publication's history.
- A confirmed publication date of November 1, 1947, placing this issue within the latter half of Barlow's long New Yorker career, well after his style and reputation within the magazine had been firmly established.
- Cover coloring likely completed by Smith, given Barlow's documented practice of having his wife, illustrator Dorothy Hope Smith, color his covers due to his partial color blindness, though the specific creative division of labor on this exact cover is not independently confirmed.
- Specific interior articles, named contributors, or feature content beyond the cover are unconfirmed for this issue; readers should consult the listing's photographs for the exact table of contents.
Condition & Rarity
This issue is described as being in good condition for its age, with some loose and ripped pages noted as part of its overall condition profile. Loose or separated pages are a common condition characteristic for magazines of this age, particularly for issues bound with staples or basic adhesive rather than more durable binding methods, and typically reflect ordinary handling and storage over nearly eight decades rather than deliberate damage. Buyers and collectors evaluating an issue with this kind of wear should weigh completeness of content against cosmetic presentation, since for a periodical from the late 1940s, having all original pages present and intact, even if loosened from the binding, is generally considered more significant than a pristine but incomplete copy. The cover itself, as the primary visual and collectible focal point for New Yorker issues featuring notable illustrators, is the element most closely scrutinized by collectors in this category, and its condition should be assessed directly from the listing's photographs alongside the noted interior page issues.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Original New Yorker covers by recognized illustrators like Perry Barlow are of lasting interest to collectors, given his unusually long tenure with the magazine and the well-documented role his work played in shaping its mid-century visual tone. Our New Yorker collection is a great place to browse other available covers and issues from across the magazine's long publishing history, and our 1947 magazines collection offers a broader look at other publications from the same year for anyone building a collection around this specific period of mid-century American print culture.