The Bottom of the Harbor

“This book has provided me with endless hours of delight, nostalgia, wit, and whimsy. Joana Avillez’s illustrations bring to life the work of a man who had unparalleled ability to see the unseen, to believe the unbelievable, and to gently pry into the lives of New York’s greatest eccentrics.”—Lena Dunham, author of Not That Kind of Girl

“Joseph Mitchell was one of the greatest listeners who ever lived and a virtuoso of American prose. He was also a kind of spirit medium, absorbing the stories people told him and penetrating the unconscious mind of the city.”—Lucy Sante, author of Low Life

“Pairing Mitchell’s iconic ode to mid-century Manhattan with drawings by Avillez is a match made in heaven.”—Prudence Peiffer, author of The Slip

“With the sort of wise, charming-as-hell, universe-containing illustrations I️’ve only seen before in illustrated classics, Avillez revives this sweetly salty, poetically precise book of New York waterway essays.”—Liana Finck, author of How to Baby

“Joana Avillez’s exquisite line drawings add new depths of wit, charm, and soulfulness to this timeless collection. . . . An edition to treasure.”—Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive

“Due to Mitchell’s observational genius, these six unassuming stories about daily life and working people brim with the kind of power and meaning and significance we know to be abundant yet struggle to find in our lives and in the books we read.”—Kathryn Scanlan, author of Kick the Latch

“Essential for any fan of city history . . . a glorious reintroduction to Mitchell for devotees—and a perfect indoctrination for newcomers.”—Ada Calhoun, author of Why We Can’t Sleep

“Joseph Mitchell turns over rocks and prods the roly polys with his pen in the most sensitive way possible. The result is one of the greatest portraits of New York City and the lost beautiful souls who inhabit it.”—Josh Safdie, writer and director of Uncut Gems and Marty Supreme

“When people think of New York, they are thinking of Joseph Mitchell. Even if they don’t know it. Mitchell captured the city’s unique concoction of proximity, curiosity, and humanity like no one else. His breed of detail has found a natural fit in Joanna Avillez’s joyful and precise illustrations.”—Sloane Crosley, author of Grief Is for People

“It’s hard to believe that a book this beautiful could ever be made more so. Joseph Mitchell made his ode to the Hudson estuary and its inhabitants with a patient attentiveness that is today rare and endangered, in prose as elsewhere. Enter Joana Avillez, who, with pen and ink, has matched Mitchell, her drawings adding new dimensions of care.”—Robert Sullivan, author of Rats