B. Kliban: 2 hard-to-find collections just listed on Webstore

Bernard "Hap" Kliban (1 January 1935 – 12 August 1990) was an American cartoonist who contributed to Playboy magazine from 1962 until his death. An excellent draftsman, he had a bizarre sense of humour which shone through his drawings, which were signed simply "B. Kliban".

Playboy’s cartoon editor, visiting his studio, reviewed his drawings, mostly cats. She thought they should be compiled into a book, introduced him to an agent, who found a publisher, resulting in the 1975 book Cat. This led to several other books of cartoons ending with Advanced Cartooning in 1993. Since Cat, his cartoons have adorned many products including stickers, calendars, mugs, and t-shirts. 

The books that followed Cat consisted mostly of extremely bizarre cartoons, some of which first appeared in Playboy, that find their humour in their utter strangeness and unlikeliness. They often contained dysmorphic drawings of nude figures in extremely unlikely environments. 

Another frequent subject of satire was the type of wordless, step-by-step visual instruction manuals typically found with such things as office furniture. "B. Kliban" also had a recurring series of drawings called "Sheer Poetry", in which the page would be split into six panels, containing images of objects whose names, when spoken in the order presented, would form a rhyming, nonsensical verse.

One of Walt's supporters has just listed two of these books on Webstore.com.

Never eat anything bigger than your head... and other drawings by B. Kliban. Published by Workman Publishing Co.,1976. Unpaginated, probably around 150 pp, paperback.

Whack your porcupine and other drawings by B. Kliban. Includes "The Turk", section of uncaptioned drawings of... well... Published by Workman Publishing Co.,1977. Unpaginated, probably around 160 pp, paperback.

Click on the links for notes as to condition, etc. Auction starting price just $2.99. Shipping charge is a bit on the high side, but you can amortize it by buying both books at once, shipped in one packet. Tell `em Walt sent ya!