Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The November 3, 1956 issue of The New Yorker with a confirmed cover by Arthur Getz is a primary document of the publication at a specific and historically concentrated moment — one of the most consequential weeks in postwar American and global history. November 3, 1956 fell directly within the simultaneous convergence of the Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution: British, French, and Israeli forces had launched their attack on Egypt on October 29, just five days before this issue's cover date, and Soviet tanks had entered Budapest on November 4, one day after. The 1956 presidential election — Eisenhower vs. Stevenson, their second contest — was held on November 6, three days after this issue's cover date. A New Yorker issue dated November 3, 1956 therefore sits at the precise intersection of three simultaneous historical crises, and the editorial choices visible in its pages — what was covered, how it was framed, what was left to the cartoonists and fiction writers — are primary documentation of how the publication navigated that extraordinary week. For collectors building archives of vintage New Yorker magazines, issues from the specific weeks of major historical events carry a documentary weight that routine weekly issues do not, and the first week of November 1956 was among the most historically concentrated weeks of the entire decade.
Arthur Getz's identity as the cover artist adds a specific art history dimension to this issue. Getz was one of The New Yorker's most prolific and beloved cover contributors from the 1940s through the 1990s, producing covers that were characteristically warm, observational, and rooted in the everyday life of New York and the American seasons — a visual counterpoint to the magazine's more satirical cartoonists. A confirmed Getz cover on a November 3, 1956 issue almost certainly reflects his characteristic seasonal sensibility applied to the specific first-week-of-November moment: the transition from late autumn to early winter, rendered with the gentle humor and domestic observation that defined his long association with the publication. Getz covers are specifically sought by collectors of New Yorker cover art, and his confirmed credit on this issue is a meaningful positive attribute for that collecting category. Collectors focused on 1956 magazines as documents of American cultural life will find this issue situated at the specific week when the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Revolution, and the presidential election converged in the pages of the publication best positioned to address them with the combination of journalism, fiction, and visual art that defined The New Yorker's unique editorial identity.
About the Publication
The New Yorker was founded in February 1925 by Harold Ross and by November 1956 was under the editorship of William Shawn, who had succeeded Ross following his death in 1951 and whose tenure would last until 1987. Shawn's editorial vision maintained and deepened the publication's commitment to long-form journalism, fiction, poetry, and criticism while extending its engagement with serious political and international affairs — a development directly relevant to an issue published during the simultaneous crises of November 1956. Its format combined long-form writing with cartoons and covers treated as serious artistic works, and its audience was the educated, urban, culturally engaged readership that Harold Ross had originally conceived as its primary constituency and that William Shawn had sustained and expanded across the first five years of his editorship.
Key Highlights Inside
- Arthur Getz cover — November 3, 1956 — A confirmed original cover by one of The New Yorker's most prolific and collected cover artists, produced for a week of extraordinary historical concentration and representative of his characteristically warm, seasonal, observational visual style.
- November 3, 1956 — Suez Crisis, Hungarian Revolution, and presidential election week — Published four days after the British-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, one day before Soviet tanks entered Budapest, and three days before the Eisenhower-Stevenson presidential election, situating this issue at one of the most historically concentrated single weeks of the entire postwar decade.
- William Shawn editorial era — fifth year of his tenure — Published in the fifth year of Shawn's editorship following Harold Ross's 1951 death, representing the publication in the early phase of the editorial vision that would define it for the next three decades.
Note: Specific interior articles, fiction, poetry, and cartoon content confirmed for this issue have not been provided in the available listing. Given the extraordinary historical context of the publication week, interior content of significant journalistic or literary interest is plausible but should be verified from available photographs of the table of contents rather than assumed.
Condition & Rarity
Good used condition with confirmed minor edge wear or rips, no address label, and no plastic protective covering represents an honest mid-grade assessment for a 69-year-old weekly magazine. The no-label newsstand status is the primary positive condition attribute, preserving the full Arthur Getz cover art without address obstruction — a meaningful distinction for display-oriented collectors and for the specific category of New Yorker cover art collectors for whom Getz covers are specifically sought. The confirmed absence of a plastic protective covering means the magazine's condition as presented reflects its natural preservation state without subsequent protective intervention, and the edge wear and possible rips should be assessed carefully from available photographs for their location and extent relative to the cover art and key interior pages. Good used condition in a weekly saddle-stitched newsprint publication of this age implies the cover art is intact and the interior content remains legible and accessible — the attributes that define its value as both a research document and a display piece. The specific historical weight of the November 3, 1956 publication week means the issue's identity as a primary document of that extraordinary moment remains fully intact across all condition grades.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
Early Shawn-era New Yorker issues from the specific weeks of major historical events — and confirmed Arthur Getz covers from any point in his long association with the publication — represent two distinct and overlapping collecting categories, and the November 3, 1956 issue's position at the precise intersection of the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Revolution, and a presidential election gives it a historical specificity that most weekly issues, however well-preserved, cannot match. The complete New Yorker magazine archive at OriginalMagazines.com is the most productive resource for collectors researching other issues from the Shawn era and the broader 1950s period of the publication's history. For collectors building a broader picture of American cultural life in 1956, the full 1956 magazine collection covers the range of titles from the specific year whose first week of November concentrated more simultaneous historical significance than almost any comparable week of the decade.