A life-long resident of New York, Andrew Alpern is well known as a historian of the city’s architecture, and a determined collector as well. Earlier this year he donated seven hundred Edward Gorey items to Columbia University’s rare books and manuscript library, a generous gift that followed by three years his presentation of a dazzling collection of 170 vintage drawing instruments gathered over forty years to the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia. The magnificent tools pictured and described here, some dating to the 1700s, offer a fresh perspective of what goes into the nuts and bolts of building design. “I was able to create a collection,” Alpern writes, in words that will resonate with readers of this magazine, “always one item at a time and often only by pushing my budget to the limit.”

The most enduring comic book villain in the history of the genre is the Joker, arch-nemesis of Batman, and the brainchild of Jerry Robinson, for the past six decades one of the great originators of the form, and still producing at an impressive pace. As an original member of the Batman team, Robinson also came up with the idea for Robin, the quintessential sidekick. To celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the Joker, N. C. Christopher Couch, a historian of the comic book, offers this richly illustrated tribute, which includes numerous preparatory sketches, along with many finished drawings; a nice choice for comic book aficionados.