The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet include drawings, charts, and lists accompanying the written elements. These drawings are purported to be done by T.S. himself, who also provides each with an explanatory caption that deepens the book's narrative. This is designed to mimic T.S.'s own habit of quantifying the world around him using cartography. Larsen has stated that this technique was not originally intended to be included in the book's format, finishing a complete first draft of the work before he "discovered the margins as a playground of T.S.’s mind." Larsen's parents were both visual artists (his mother a painter and photographer, his father a printmaker),
Gilbert S. Meem horned cattle, on exhibition and for sale at the National Fair, Washington, D.C." New Market, Henkel and Co., printers, 1888, . In 1892, Meem sold his Mount Airy property and moved to Seattle, Washington. President Grover Cleveland appointed him postmaster of Seattle after his move. Meem served in that office until 1899, becoming a well-known citizen of the city. Gilbert S. Meem died on June 10, 1908 at Seattle, Washington. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery at Seattle. His son, Gilbert S. Meem, Jr., had died no later than May 29, 1909 and was buried in the same cemetery.