December 2, 2013

Tom Gauld is a Scottish artist, a cartoonist, living in London. Gauld, born in 1976, regularly has his cartoons in The Guardian newspaper, and most recently he came to our attention when his cover for the December 2, 2013 New Yorker, was written up by the lady who selected the cover, Francoise Mouly. She quotes her artist on the American holiday of Tnanksgiving in, I guess, her Toon newsletter:


“I grew up in the countryside in the north of Scotland, where it got very dark and cold over the winter,” says Tom Gauld, the London-based cartoonist who drew this week’s cover, “Turkey Day.” “That has left me with a love of warming, stodgy winter food, particularly puddings: syrup sponge, mince pies, and Christmas pudding.”

“We don’t really have an equivalent of Thanksgiving in Britain—the big family meal where you eat too much happens at Christmas, and that’s when you’d traditionally eat a turkey. On November 5th, we celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, which is more about fireworks, bonfires, and mulled wine than about food. Thanksgiving is a bit like baseball for me, something which I’m aware of through American films, television, and books. ...."

Gauld has a new book out -- You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack. (2013) We show you a few of his cartoons below, knowing you will run out and buy his book after seeing them. There are four below, with a cat in the first sample. They all demonstrate the modern intellectual is a universal type. Hurry, I just noticed Amazon has 60 new copies for $9.39 and 22 used copies for 9.98.  Yes, I typed that correctly.