This anthology of New Yorker cartoons is -- as anyone who reads The New Yorker will expect -- a real class act. It won't be a bestseller because comparatively few people read The New Yorker. Of those who don't read The New Yorker, it seems fair to say that they probably wouldn't get the jokes anyway. So, to keen-witted Americans, The New Yorker gives 1,516 wonderful cartoons on 1,516 pages in two slick, heavy volumes.

The books contain "An A-to-Z collection of the magazine's cartoons from the 1920s to the present. 3,000 cartoons are organized into more than 300 categories of recurring themes selected from 100 years of "New Yorker" issues. Subjects are indexed by topic, alphabetically -- A through K and L through Z.

If you buy these books for yourself, you're in for a treat. If you buy them to gift someone else, they're in for a treat. The two books are enclosed in a slipcase that includes a giant, cartooned greeting card (suitable for framing) and a slick-paper flyer that explains what you've given them and how to navigate the gift.

If you buy this set for someone who is elderly or is in some way handicapped, you should know that these two volumes and the slipcase together weigh slightly more than 10 pounds. And whatever you do, don't drop it on your own tooties. ( )