Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
February 7, 1970 places this issue of The New Yorker at a moment of acute political and cultural intensity. The Vietnam War was in one of its most contested phases — Nixon had announced his Vietnamization policy in 1969 but the war continued, and the defoliation program that Thomas Whiteside's "Reporter at Large" piece in this very issue addresses was among the most controversial aspects of American military strategy in Southeast Asia. Agent Orange and herbicidal warfare were subjects of growing public concern and scientific alarm, and Whiteside's coverage — confirmed in the table of contents — represents exactly the kind of sustained, serious investigative journalism that made The New Yorker under William Shawn the most important American journalism institution of the era. The Kent State shootings were still three months away; the full rupture of American society over Vietnam had not yet reached its most violent domestic expression. For collectors assembling a serious archive through original magazines from 1970, this February 7 issue sits at a precise and historically charged moment — the defoliation controversy at its most contested, three months before Kent State, in the opening weeks of a year that would test American society's cohesion more severely than any since the Civil War.
The table of contents reveals a remarkable concentration of literary and critical talent that makes this issue an exceptional documentary object. Jorge Luis Borges appearing with a poem titled "Israel" is historically noteworthy — Borges was not a regular New Yorker contributor, and his presence in this specific issue is a rare and valuable document of his engagement with the American literary mainstream. Donald Barthelme's contribution — confirmed as "The Phantom of the Opera's Friend" — places him in this issue at the height of his postmodernist literary influence, when he was one of the most celebrated and discussed fiction writers in America. Pauline Kael's film criticism, Brendan Gill's theater coverage, and the drawings roster — including William Steig, Charles Saxon, Edward Koren, and Charles Barsotti — represent the magazine's visual and critical tradition at a generationally rich moment. For collectors tracing the literary and editorial history of the publication through original New Yorker issues, this specific February 1970 number is an unusually well-documented primary artifact of the magazine's most ambitious period.
The David Preston winter trees cover adds a specific visual dimension worth noting. Preston's seasonal cover art — rendered in the contemplative, nature-observational tradition that The New Yorker had long cultivated for its winter and early spring numbers — sits in productive contrast with the investigative journalism and literary experimentation of the interior. That contrast between the cover's quietude and the interior's engagement with defoliation, Vietnam, and postmodernist fiction is itself a document of the magazine's characteristic editorial voice: maintaining the outward composure of civilized life while engaging with the forces that threatened it.
About the Publication
Founded in February 1925 by Harold Ross and edited from 1952 by William Shawn, The New Yorker of the early 1970s was at a period of deep editorial seriousness and cultural authority, engaging with the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the social upheavals of the era with the long-form journalistic commitment that Shawn had made central to the magazine's identity. Its readership was educated, culturally engaged, and expected the combination of literary quality, serious criticism, and the distinctive humor tradition that had defined the publication across nearly five decades. The critical voices confirmed in this issue's table of contents — Kael on cinema, Gill on theater, Sargeant on music — represent the magazine's critical tradition at its most authoritative.
Key Highlights Inside
- Thomas Whiteside — "A Reporter at Large: Defoliation" (p.32): As confirmed in the table of contents — investigative reporting on the military herbicide program in Vietnam, published at the height of the defoliation controversy, representing exactly the kind of sustained long-form journalism that defined The New Yorker's engagement with the Vietnam War under William Shawn.
- Jorge Luis Borges — "Israel" (Poem, p.34): As confirmed in the table of contents — a rare New Yorker appearance by one of the most significant literary figures of the twentieth century, whose presence in this specific issue is a genuinely uncommon primary document of his engagement with the American literary mainstream.
- Donald Barthelme — "The Phantom of the Opera's Friend" (p.26): As confirmed in the table of contents — a contribution from one of the most celebrated American postmodernist fiction writers of the era, at the height of his literary influence.
- Pauline Kael — "The Current Cinema" (p.91): As confirmed in the table of contents — film criticism from the most influential American film critic of the era, whose New Yorker column from this period is among the most important primary documents of New Hollywood cinema criticism.
- David Preston winter trees cover: A seasonal cover illustration in the contemplative nature-observational tradition of the magazine's winter numbers, here published as the interior addresses Vietnam defoliation — a contrast that is itself historically and editorially significant.
- Drawings by William Steig, Charles Saxon, Edward Koren, and others: As confirmed in the drawings credit — a generationally rich roster of cartoonists representing multiple decades of the magazine's visual tradition simultaneously.
Condition & Rarity
The listing describes this issue as in very good condition with only light edge wear, a plastic protective sleeve included, and photographs provided showing the exact item. In collector-grade terms, very good condition with light edge wear is a sound and desirable preservation result for a publication now over fifty years old. The applied protective sleeve indicates appropriate custodial care. When evaluating any surviving copy of this issue, the meaningful criteria are the integrity of Preston's cover art, the completeness of all interior pages including the full table of contents confirmed in the listing, and the absence of moisture damage or significant toning. Given the unusual literary concentration of this specific issue — Borges, Barthelme, Whiteside on defoliation, Kael — condition assessment should account for the interior pages' preservation as well as the cover. A copy meeting the standard described here represents the preservation grade that serious collectors of early-1970s New Yorker material seek.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A New Yorker with confirmed contributions from Jorge Luis Borges, Donald Barthelme, Pauline Kael, and Thomas Whiteside on Vietnam defoliation — all in a single February 1970 issue — is precisely the kind of editorially complete and historically situated find that serious collectors of the magazine pursue with real patience. If it is no longer available, the extensive original New Yorker collection at OriginalMagazines.com is one of the deepest archives of the magazine accessible to collectors, spanning many decades of its publishing history. For those drawn to the early 1970s at its most historically and literarily charged, the full 1970 magazine collection rewards careful and patient exploration.