Philip Hamburger—Semi-Forgotten NEW YORKER humorist/reporter

Description: • For Your Consideration: • A Lot of TWO (2) First-Edition HARDCOVERS by a Semi-Forgotten NEW YORKER humorist & reporter: • PHILIP HAMBURGER • “Readers who fell in love…with HAMBURGER’s close friend JOSEPH MITCHELL when UP IN THE OLD HOTEL was published will be just as happy to have their fill of HAMBURGER.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY • TITLE 1 → • “OUR MAN STANLEY”(The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1963) (Hardcover, First Edition, First Printing) • “The reader may well ask a pertinent question: Who is OUR MAN STANLEY? STANLEY (to answer the question) is an imaginary character who turns up from time to time in the pages of The Talk of The Town section of THE NEW YORKER. He has been making his appearances there for a good many years now, and one hopes, he will continue to show up in the future. STANLEY has a habit of showing up; he is a hard man to keep down. No one writer can claim to be the one and only STANLEY but I have been STANLEY a great deal more often than any other person has been STANLEY. As STANLEYwould say, in his curious, telegraphic style, ‘This fact statistical.’ Hence, with the gracious permission of the editors of THE NEW YORKER, this book of my STANLEY stories…. And now a confession. I am a writer, not an actor, but I love to play STANLEY. When I put on one of my STANLEY hats and head off to a Presidential Inauguration, or a Staten Island ferry ride, or the shop of a Hong Kong tailor, I feel free and gay and full of beans. STANLEY’s world—my man STANLEY’s world—is a joyous one, where people are still capable of laughter.” —PHILIP HAMBURGER, FROM THE AUTHOR’S NOTE IN “OUR MAN STANLEY” •• TITLE 2 → → • “J. P. MARQUAND, ESQUIRE: A PORTRAIT IN THE FORM OF A NOVEL”(Houghton Mifflin, 1952) (Hardcover, First Edition, First Printing) • “Here he [HAMBURGER] tells the whole story in MARQUAND-like prose and in the form of a MARQUAND novel, with HAMBURGER himself—as a reporter named CRAIG—and MARQUAND as the ‘characters.’ In theory it is a refreshing and ingenious piece of reporting, giving us both the facts and a sympathetic literary imitation which conveys the flavor of how MARQUAND very likely feels about his own life. In addition, the research involved is little short of staggering; HAMBURGER read all twenty-nine of MARQUAND’s novels, including the MR. MOTO stories and other skillful pot-boilers, and one hundred and ten articles, and further briefed himself on every wrinkle and crease in MARQUAND’s intimate biography and that of his forebears; one cannot fail to be impressed by the monument of accurate fact that thus reveals itself. HAMBURGER also does reasonably well with maintaining the illusion of the novelist’s style and point of view.”—SEYMOUR KRIM, COMMENTARY (1952) • ABOUT THE AUTHOR:• “PHILIP was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1914, and his family moved to the city, he once said, when he was ‘seven or eight.’ He joined the magazine in 1939, at around the same time as his close friends JOSEPH MITCHELL and A. J. LIEBLING. PHILIP was not a single-subject man. He wrote countless pieces for THE TALK OF THE TOWN; as the magazine’s GAZETTEER, he reported from more than fifty American hot spots (Bismarck, Butte, Gettysburg), and, as OUR MAN STANLEY, he wrote about the odd corners of the city. He wrote profiles of everyone from PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN and JUDGE LEARNED HAND to LOUIE G. SCHWARTZ, a waiter at the Sixth Avenue Delicatessen, who sold four million dollars’ worth of war bonds…. “PHILIP worked with every editor in the magazine’s history, beginning with HAROLD ROSS, and he was as game in his approach to writing as he was graceful in his prose. When he was asked to pitch in writing film, television, and music criticism, he shrugged and did it joyfully. He wrote less from a sense of schooled expertise than from the vantage point of an enthusiast, though he was not always enthusiastic. In 1948, he went off to the Met’s performance of ‘Rigoletto’ and returned to the office to do the critical deed. ‘The question that came to mind was: How is it possible to make “Rigoletto” sound dull, thick, interminable, sticky, and sick? Little boys playing airs from “Rigoletto” on combs could gather crowds on a side street any day. . . . But leave “Rigoletto” to the Metropolitan and the trick is miraculously done.’ ”—DAVID REMNICK, THE NEW YORKER (2004, THE AUTHOR’S OBITUARY) • “MR. HAMBURGER writes with extraordinary skill and sparkle and perception of things which most of us fail to discern.” —BALTIMORE SUN • “I have admired the understated, elegant prose and the perceptive observations of PHILIP HAMBURGER for many years….” —ROBERT A. CARO • “His writing is both graceful and playful, and he emerges as a perceptive, sensitive man who makes it easy for his subjects to reveal far more than they ever intended.” —ROGER COHN, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • “He has reported on what seems like every conceivable subject, in every conceivable place, in this country and around the world.… His prose style is elegant and controlled, and he has formidable powers of observation, with an eye and an ear that miss nothing—nothing—of the situation or scene or person he is surveying. Best of all, his deadpan humor is never far below the surface. The result is brilliant reporting and the creation of some comic masterpieces…. Curious, versatile, cultivated, humorous and fundamentally decent, HAMBURGER is an endangered species of reporter, and his kind of journalism is nearly extinct.”—SUZANNE D’MELLO, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE • “PHILIP HAMBURGER is an enchanting writer, and…wonderfully perceptive tour….” —ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR. • “With a feather-light touch, PHILIP HAMBURGER reveals the workings of the human heart, the pulse of a city, the texture of the world…. [He is] the ideal guide: wise, amusing, above all a consummate artist.”—MARY GORDON • “HAMBURGER is a true master of the profile. He takes the form from its humble beginnings as introduction material…to a literary type of interview that reads like fiction. Breaking traditional reporting style, HAMBURGER includes himself as a main character in all of these essays giving the reader the use of his eyes and ears as well as filtering ‘facts’ through his own ‘rose-colored glasses.’ Not only does a reader hear what the interviewed have to say, but experiences the world as this reporter does. Luckily for the reader, HAMBURGER’s world is a charming one full of heroes and humor.”—LISA STUMP, AMAZON REVIEW • • For other details about the two books in this lot, please see below. • TITLE 1: “OUR MAN STANLEY” AUTHOR: PHILIP HAMBURGER ILLUSTRATOR: KELLY OECHSLI TYPE: HARDCOVER PUBLISHER, LOCALE, & YEAR: The Bobbs-Merrill Company (Indianapolis • New York), 1963 EDITION: First Edition, First Printing* *RE: On the Copyright Page, this statement: “First printing, 1963”—with no later printings listed. NOTE: This copy is NOT an ex-library copy. PAGES: 158 ISBN: N/A (Pre-ISBN) CONDITION OF BOOK: VERY GOOD. No Dust Jacket. Book is square & firm. Yellow cloth boards are clean with areas of light discoloring/smudging. Corners are bumped and/or rubbed. Spine is tight though slightly darkened. Spine tips are bumped. Text-block edges are moderately age-toned. Previous owner’s name, locale, & date are inked on the front free endpaper. Pages are bright & clean—with no other writing, no underlining, no highlighting, no foxing, no staining, no tears/rips, no foul odor, etc. ••TITLE 2: “J. P. MARQUAND, ESQUIRE: A Portrait in the Form of a Novel” AUTHOR: PHILIP HAMBURGER TYPE: HARDCOVER PUBLISHER, LOCALE, & YEAR: Houghton Mifflin (Boston), 1952 EDITION: First Edition, First Printing* *RE: The publication year on the Title Page & Copyright Page match—with no later printings listed. NOTE: This copy is NOT an ex-library copy. PAGES: 114 ISBN: N/A (Pre-ISBN) CONDITION OF BOOK: VERY GOOD. No Dust Jacket. Book is square & firm. The fore edge of the front cover is slightly bowed (turns upward). Though lightly smudged in spots, boards are overall clean. Corners are bumped. Spine is tight with bumped tips. Text-block edges are moderately toned & scratched. Endpapers are slightly ghosted & there’s a name in ink on the front free endpaper. Pages are bright & clean—with no writing, no underlining, no highlighting, no foxing, no staining, no tears/rips, no foul odor, etc. SHIPPING NEWS: These two books be wrapped with care before being shipped together in a protected & sturdy mailer or box. THANK YOU! ********************** /\___/\=•ᆺ•= “We believe it’s good business to be good to our customers.” *********** FLAPPINCAT’s HOUSE RULES ***********1. GENERAL TREATMENT. We enjoy treating FLAPPINCAT customers with honesty & respect & warmth because that’s how we like to be treated when we buy things on eBay.2. GENERAL ATTITUDE. We are grateful you choose to trust us with your business. We aim for that gratitude to permeate every part of how we engage with you.3. OUR DESCRIPTIONS. We describe every item we sell as clearly and accurately as we can. When it comes to describing condition, we tend toward being conservative. 4. PACKING & SHIPPING. We know from experience that items, when not thoughtfully packed, can be damaged during shipment. To avoid that real danger, FLAPPINCAT wraps & cushions your purchase(s) mindfully—and sometimes zealously—in a sturdy package. WARNING: In our zeal, we sometimes over-tape containers and you may need a penknife to unseal our shipments. NOTE: Though we often recycle shipping materials, we do NOT stint on protection. 5. OUR PRICES. We try to offer the lowest prices on eBay for items we sell. Even our most expensive offerings tend to be lower than what others are asking. “You could look it up!” —to quote baseball immortal JACK KEEFE. SUMMARY: We know you have many buying options on eBay. FLAPPINCAT tries to be distinctive by being accurate, mindful, and friendly. *********** How We GRADECONDITION ***********DETAILS. 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Price: 16.99 USD

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

End Time: 2025-01-17T00:43:04.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6.5 USD