Playboy: 50 Years: The Cartoons

It's nice to see a book of coffee-table proportions just devoted to cartoons, well why not? Previous Playboy books have covered the history of the magazine, the delightful Playmates and now the cartoons. The 450 plus illustrations are the work of 107 cartoonists and if you are a regular reader of the magazine you'll see your favorites. Gahan Wilson has the most (thirty-two) followed by regulars like Eldon Dedini, John Demsey, Alden Erikson, Kiraz, Roy Raymonde, Doug Sneyd (he of the flamboyant signature, which I was never able to decipher until now) Erich Sokol and between these, dozens of great artists who have maybe one or two works each. The humor might not be the wonderful ironic style of the New Yorker but it is amazing how many fresh takes can be created with the bachelor lifestyle. This is a handsomely produced book, printed on thick glossy paper which, nicely, allows you to really appreciate just how good some of these artists are. My favorite, Jack Davis, unfortunately only has four shown, Richard Taylor has a super picture on page ten, an art gallery where he has created several Picasso type paintings, Doug Sneyd, Phil Interlandi and Dedini are all brilliant draughtsmen and Shel Silverstein can create so much with so little line and color. However I was a bit disappointed with this book, as another reviewer has commented, there is no indication of when the cartoons appeared and I wish the publishers had gone the extra mile and perhaps devoted some space throughout the pages for a photo and biography of the regulars, some of these guys have been with Playboy for years. Someone though, at least, did have the foresight to compile an Artists index and a useful Order of appearance list, both of which are in the back pages. Clearly a wonderful book for the bedside table if your date didn't turn up, try laughing yourself to sleep.

First of all this book is printed on excellent paper & is well done except for one thing. there is no way to tell what year the cartoons are from. They should have had chapters. 1950`s 1960`s ect so you know what era they are from

Actually bought for a birthday gift. He always telling me about the funny cartoon in the magzine. He loved it.

My husband has been asking for this book for a long time but I couldnt justify spending the retail price gor it. I spent half here and it is a lot bigger of a book than I thought it was going to be. Nice for a good laugh

I love this book because it shows so many cartoons from this magazine. Playboy has been around since the early 1950's and Gahan Wilson has probably been there since the beginning.

I gave this book as a Christmas present and the person who got it loved it. The cartoons are funny and it was a great read for cartoons. Thank you!

I got this hardback book for my brother when he turned 21, hes an avid reader and LOVES comics so he got an absolute crack up about this book and loves it!

If you're like me, you look forward to the illustrations in each issue of Playboy. They are not only witty, but masterfully rendered and executed. This book is a wonderful collection of the best illustrations Playboy has published.

I enjoy this classic look back on humor in society, I would recommend it to people looking for either comedy or historical documentation- it offers an interesting perspective on society that is long gone.

it was OK had some nice art however the left out some of the "best" and included some that was less than what it could have been on a scale of one to ten I give it a three and a half

A cartoon I am seeking, and believed to have been printed in Playboy, must have been in the 'other, copycat' magazine! :-( :-)

Enjoyed this book of cartoons purchased through amazon, A slice of modern american culture.

Absolutely beautiful book! The person that it was bought for will love it!

Buy this only if you have a sense of humor and really love to laugh. If your serious or to serious buy something else. This book is for Laughers and Laughers only. 5 stars

Some really funny stuff. And yet some material was lame. It was all hand picked by Hef. I bought this used and it arrived with only minor damage to the jacket cover. At the used price this was a good buy.

Very Happy with my purchase book was like new condition pages had no wear on them. overall this is my favorite classics of Playboy I use to sneak my brother in laws play boy magazines when I was a kid ever since then I loved checking these out as a sexual curious boy. to this day so I am glad I could find this classic book.

Classic. Priceless.

For us who lived thru the events depicted a delightful time warp.

Excellent... Thank...

Kinda hard to review. The work of Gahan Wilson in particular is unqualified genius and really has nothing stylistically in common with anything else. Jack Cole and Shel Silverstein and probably other people I forget do some good work but then there's still like 50-60% of the book that's somewhere from amusingly dated to painfully dated to painfully somehow someone thought it was funny this century. Absent objective signifiers like technology and politics, I'd swear there was nothing published after 1980, but I think we hit late W if not Obama in here. Peak noodlescratcher goes to the licensed King of the Hill strip, the author of which, to his credit, seems to have watched fully twos of episodes to so masterfully capture the essence of the show and the character names.

Great book of art pieces for Playboy, the humor was definitely different due to its time. Condition was ok, the book is in one piece but the cover jacket is ripped and falling apart.

This is a coffee-table type of book. I have long loved Playboy's cartoons, and the price was great for such a big book and such a large collection.

I liked almost every thing. What happened to Any Fanny?

Very Happy with my purchase book was like new condition pages had no wear on them. overall this is my favorite classics of Playboy I use to sneak my brother in laws play boy magazines when I was a kid ever since then I loved checking these out as a sexual curious boy. to this day so I am glad I could find this classic book.

Came quickly and was in practically new condition.

I remember the magazines having some really good cartoons. Half of these were definitely not up to par. Just disappointed. It did have a few funny ones.

The book was fine, although some of those cartoons scared me especially the ones drawn by Gahan Wilson, but maybe it's because I'm a wuss. I don't know.

not so good

FUN TO LOOK BACK ON OLD CARTOONS. PLAYBOY HAD GOOD ONES.

Great product, great delivery. Just as it should be. Thanks!

Buy this only if you have a sense of humor and really love to laugh. If your serious or to serious buy something else. This book is for Laughers and Laughers only. 5 stars

Good collection, but nearly impossible to read correctly on a Kindle due to the layout.

Did not like that so few cartoons were Gahan Wilson art.

Some really funny stuff. And yet some material was lame. It was all hand picked by Hef. I bought this used and it arrived with only minor damage to the jacket cover. At the used price this was a good buy.

For us who lived thru the events depicted a delightful time warp.

My husband has been asking for this book for a long time but I couldnt justify spending the retail price gor it. I spent half here and it is a lot bigger of a book than I thought it was going to be. Nice for a good laugh