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  • Thurber Thursday: The Debut Of The Thurber Dog michael
    Looking at James Thurber’s first New Yorker cartoons this morning, it came as quite a surprise that the famous β€œThurber dog” did not make an appearance in the magazine until 29 Thurber cartoons had been published in the magazine (I’m not including the ones that showed up in his β€œOur Pet Department” series. While I love those dogs, they’re not the dog you see above, shown here in eraser form). In fact, not a one of those first 29 Thurber drawings had a dog anywhere in sight. When the classic Thu
     

Thurber Thursday: The Debut Of The Thurber Dog

4 June 2026 at 12:26

Looking at James Thurber’s first New Yorker cartoons this morning, it came as quite a surprise that the famous β€œThurber dog” did not make an appearance in the magazine until 29 Thurber cartoons had been published in the magazine (I’m not including the ones that showed up in his β€œOur Pet Department” series. While I love those dogs, they’re not the dog you see above, shown here in eraser form). In fact, not a one of those first 29 Thurber drawings had a dog anywhere in sight. When the classic Thurber dog did show up, in the issue of February 6, 1932, it was not an incidental dog in a cartoon featuring humans. The dog was the star of the show β€” the main attraction, and it made its debut in a 16 part(!) spread that traveled across the magazine’s gutter. I’ll show you the first part here:

The entire piece can be found in his collections, The Seal In The Bedroom, The Thurber Carnival, and Thurber’s Dogs (to mention just a few). If you have a subscription to The New Yorker you can, of course, find it in the archive, on pages 22-23 of the February 6, 1932 issue. It’s online here as well.

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James Thurber’s A-Z:

James ThurberΒ Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, β€œIn the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors β€” E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them β€” did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential.Β Website

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