New York Sketches

Elwyn Brooks White (1899–1985) was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the youngest of six children. He is best known today for his classic children’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little; he was also among the best and funniest American prose stylists of the twentieth century. Martha White, granddaughter of E. B. White, is a writer and editor. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, and many other publications.

“New York Sketches, a new collection of E.B. White’s musings about New York City, offers two pleasures, one nostalgic and one stylistic: There is the invocation of the New York of the 1930s and ’40s, a glamorous jumble of fast-talking journalists and smoky saloons, and there is the wry poetry of the writing . . . Jewels of observation that glint on every page of Sketches . . . A world described in such loving detail overflows with wonders: The rigorous attention in “Sketches” is a kind of re-enchantment.”—Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post“The variety of subject matter to be found in these graceful pages is enormous. But no matter what his subject, Mr. White always writes about it in a prose that is a joy to read.”—The New York Times“E.B. White is a master of the gently amusing and perceptive essay and his New York Sketches is a treat. It fits alongside his ode to NYC called Here Is New York, but this is more casual, more fun . . . No need to pour over dusty back issues in the library, panning for gold. It’s all here and surprisingly durable tossed-off gems they are.”—Michael Giltz, Parade“This frisky collection from Charlotte’s Web author White (1899–1985) compiles brief dispatches . . . chronicling the vagaries of New York City life . . . The selections are rife with the author’s dry wit . . . His crystalline prose also captures the city’s beauty . . . This pulses with the irrepressible heartbeat of New York City.”—Publishers Weekly“His voice rumbles with authority through sentences of surpassing grace. In his more than fifty years at The New Yorker, White set a standard of writerly craft for that supremely well-wrought magazine. In genial, perfectly poised essay after essay, he has wielded the English language with as much clarity and control as any American of his time.”—Raymond Sokolov, Newsweek“Some of the finest examples of contemporary, genuinely American prose. White’s style incorporates eloquence without affectation, profundity without pomposity, and wit without frivolity or hostility. Like his predecessors Thoreau and Twain, White’s creative, humane, and graceful perceptions are an education for the sensibilities.”—The Washington Post

• Foreword by Martha WhiteMANNERSNotes & Comment: July 16, 1932Defense of the Bronx RiverNotes & Comment: February 18, 1928Notes & Comment: November 29, 1952DefinitionsNotes & Comment: July 3, 1954Notes & Comment: March 24, 1945Window BoxNotes & Comment: December 4, 1948Notes & Comment: July 17, 1954Notes & Comment: November 5, 1949Notes & Comment: November 29, 1952Notes & Comment: July 3, 1937Notes & Comment: February 19, 1943The Rock DoveNotes & Comment: May 11, 1935Lines in AnguishDaisy at One Fifth AveDaisy at Schrafft’sInterview with DaisyNotes & Comment: October 6, 1923The GastropodsThe Wings of OrvilleReading RoomNotes & Comment: January 16, 1937Notes & Comment: January 6, 1951The Lady Is ColdMEMORIES & INVENTIONSObituaryBusiness ShowThe Hour of LetdownThe Street of the DeadThe Retort TranscendentalChild’s PlayJourneysThe Hotel of the Total StrangerGoodbye to 48th StreetGramercy ParkGetting AwayNotes & Comment: June 11, 1955