If you’ve seen any pics from inside our house chances are you’ve seen a fair few New Yorker magazine covers on the walls. I love them. The variety and volume of artwork is amazing and in addition they make excellent birthday presents for family and friends if you can track down the right one… I’ve spent many hours on ebay over the years! But by far the majority of covers hanging in our house are from Valentines day as I have bought Ariana a vintage cover every February 14th since we got together – it’s been 13th years so far and I’ve not missed a year.
I guess it started when I was a kid and we lived in New York. When we eventually returned home my parents brought a ton of New York posters back with them to the UK. We have quite a few of these hanging around the house today but my favourite of these was always a giant poster of the famous Steinberg Cover (see below).
It’s probably the most famous New Yorker Cover of all time and I used to stare at it as a kid, loving all the little details and of course the idea that New York was the epicentre of the world. I felt like that for a long time and it’s something Ariana and I definitely bonded over when we first met as she’d lived there for a good deal of time in her early twenties. When she first entered my living room at my house in Hackney she couldn’t believe my collection!
That poster hung in our family house for many years along with some of the brilliant Tony Graham New York prints, but when they moved they decided to change up their art and many of them ended up in the attic for a while just waiting for a raid from my sister and myself looking for things to decorate our flat in London.
In addition, the Steinberg cover also started my collection of cover art that has led to what is now an extensive collection of my favourites. I even own the first ever cover which was published on 21st February 1925 and features the famous butterfly gazing portrait of Eustace Tilley.
That same cover is reproduced every year to celebrate their anniversary. So if you decide to buy your friend their birthday New Yorker and eBay comes up short chances are it’ll be in my collection!
Greg x
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