The Years of Living Dangerously: Humor in Times of Real Trouble

The Years of Living Dangerously: Humor in Times of Real Trouble features a selection of the work of comic artists, cartoonists and underground printers at their most devious—undermining marauders and disasters from wartime to pandemic times.

Drawn from the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor, in the Library’s Book Arts & Special Collections Center, the Annual Wit & Humor exhibition is on view April 1 through June 30, 2022, Sixth Floor, Main Library.

The Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor was founded by San Francisco attorney, book collector and humanitarian Nat Schmulowitz (1889–1966) on April Fool’s Day, 1947, when he presented ninety-three jest books to San Francisco Public Library. He faithfully continued to add toward the establishment of what is now considered to be the world’s largest public collection of wit & humor.

Banner image: Parody of The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer, 1498.