11. R. Crumb Sketchbooks vols. 7-12 (Taschen)

Well folks, now it gets ugly. It's time to talk about the 

R. CRUMB SKETCHBOOKS VOLS. 7-12 (Taschen), edited by Dian Hanson.

Or as we here at the Crumbpendium refer to them, The Sell-Out Edition.

We'll let Taschen describe the set for you:

"Underground treasures

1,344 pages of Crumb's hand-picked selections from his notebooks

This six-book boxed set is the first collection of Robert Crumb sketches to be printed from the original art since the hard-bound, slipcased, seven volume series issued by the German publisher Zweitausendeins between 1981 and 1997. Unlike the Zweitausendeins edition, which included every doodle ever made by the preeminent underground artist, our best-of edition has been personally edited by the notoriously picky artist to include only what he considers his finest work, including hundreds of late period drawings not published in previous sketchbook collections. Robert Crumb requested that the books representing the second half of his career be published first due to fan demand for new Crumb material (Volumes 7-12 cover the period 1982-2011, and the forthcoming Volumes 1-6 will cover the period 1964-1981).


In the last 20 years Crumb's artistic output has slowed considerably, making new works more rare and highly prized. This collection of over 600 unseen drawings created between 1982 and 2011 makes this a must-have collectible for every Crumb fan."

Hardcover, 6 vols. in slipcase with print in portfolio, 20,5 x 27 cm, 1344 pages

€ 750

Taschen.com Crumb Sketchbooks

Well folks, we can't tell you any more about these books other than they go from 1982 to 2011, and that we can't afford them. Apparently Taschen thinks that "every Crumb fan" has € 750 to blow on Crumb sketchbooks. I wish!

Dian Hanson and Taschen have dragged Crumb into the rich man's world of haute coutre art, in direct opposition to most of what he says and claims to be about in his comics. 

These books are priced well out of the reach of the average, blue-collar Crumb fan. Why? 

Where's the cheap, paperback, loser's edition?

I hope at least ol' R. is getting a big chunk o' that change for himself...

So, yeah. You need these. But can you afford to buy them??

We shall continue our list assuming you can't.

Thanks a lot Taschen, Hanson, R. Whomever.