Scrawl

Sketches, drawings, and scribbles from the private letters and notebooks of some of the greatest names in history--notable figures in art and literature, fashion and film--revealing that even the most influential minds have doodled their time away!

From the first ever sketch of the Red Cross logo by its founder Clara Barton to a cartoon scrawled on a love letter from Charles Bukowski, the objects in this fascinating collection are a perfect reflection of the eclectic and storied cast of characters from whose archives they’ve been collected over the years.

Organised alphabetically, with a range of influential names, from William Burroughs to Mark Twain, the book is a voyeur’s treasure trove of the ephemeral, in which cultural icons reveal their own preoccupations, passions, plans, and distractions in the marginalia of their daily correspondence. A satirical sketch by Marc Chagall sits beside a quick self-portrait by Charlie Chaplin; a throwaway drawing on a dollar bill by Joan Miro follows the first ever idle iteration of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren; and a hasty drawing by Andy Warhol precedes a sketch of Falstaff on a hotel notepad by Orson Welles.

A treat for lovers of the analog in the digital age, and reproduced beautifully on uncoated paper to come as close as possible to the texture of the originals, Scrawl connects high and low, art and science, history and literature, youth and age, with the universal truth of doodling.

About the Authors

The Strauss-Schulsons are collectors and antiquarians, and caretakers of the David Schulson collection of autographs and artifacts. They live and work in New Jersey and New York.