Let Sleeping Dogs Lie Together

by Stephen J. Gertz

In 1929 Cecil Aldin (1870-1935), an artist with a passion for dogs, published Sleeping Partners, a charming series of twenty colored sketches of his two pooches, Micky, an Irish Wolfhound, and Cracker, a Bull Terrier with a dark patch over one eye, asleep and cuddling on Aldin's sofa. They were, as he dubbed them,  "The Professionals," sophisticated canine models, as opposed to "The Amateurs," visiting dogs lacking poise for posing before Aldin.

Micky and Cracker were Il Divos who needed room to express their artistic souls. Aldin had converted an old Army barracks into a sixty-foot long studio and this allowed his models a runway to strut their stuff for hours until settling into a pose that pleased them and Aldin, who, apparently, had the patience of a saint. "Never work with children or animals" (W.C. Fields).

Cecil Aldin (1870-1935) “was a most prolific artist and illustrator. While living in London, he became friends with the Beggarstaff Brothers (see Houfe under William Nicholson and James Pryde), John Hassall, Phil May and Dudley Hardy, and their influence on his work was great. He produced a great number of prints, a select list of which is included with a comprehensive bibliography in Heron’s book [Cecil Aldin: The Story of a Sporting Artist (1981)]. He did a great deal of advertising work, including posters, for such companies as Bovril, Colman (manufacturers of starch and mustard), and Cadbury’s, and Royal Doulton produced about sixty items with Aldin drawings between 1910 and 1939. Horses, dogs and the English countryside were the major topics of Aldin’s illustrations. The obituary in The Times asserted that ‘there never yet has been a painter of dogs fit to hold a candle to him…Cecil Aldin can justly be described as one of the leading spirits in the renaissance of British sporting art’” (Alan Horne, The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators, p. 67). 

Other books written and illustrated by Aldin include Old Inns (1921); Old Manor Houses (1923); Cathedral[s] and Abbey Churches of England (1924); Romances of the Road (1928); An Artist’s Models (1930); Exmoor, the Riding Playground of England (1935); and Hunting Scenes (1936).

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ALDIN, Cecil. Sleeping Partners. A Series of Episodes. London: Eyre and Spottiwoode, n.d. [1929]. First edition. Folio (12 1/2 x 9 3/8 in; 312 x 236 mm). Unpaginated. Twenty recto-only mounted colored plates.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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The Bookplate Society Holds Super Summer Auction

by Stephen J. Gertz

Morton Stephenson (c.1885 - ?) was a British cellist
and composer for orchestra and the theater.

The Bookplate Society, the international association of collectors, bibliophiles, artists and others dedicated to promote the study of bookplates, is holding its summer online auction. The bidding is open now through August 4, 2013.

Five hundred lots are being offered, with examples from the eighteenth century through the twentieth. The auction is intended for members of the Society but is open to all, member or not.

The entire online catalog can be viewed here. Below, a few choice specimens:

Lovell Latham was a sometime writer who contributed to
the London weekly newspaper Pick-Me-Up (i.e. Oct. 26, 1884)
and The Literary World (i.e. Sept. 16, 1892).

 

Who How?
(Designed by "M.S."?).

Given How's motto, "Let There Be No Envy Or Ill Will;"
the two oil wells in the background; the Texas longhorn
at the figure's (How?) left foot; the happy-sad faces
flanking the figure, How was likely a rich Texas oilman
and happy but didn't want to cause offense. It made him sad.

Matilda Constance Schieffelin Ismay (1877 - 1963) was the wife
of Charles Bower Ismay of Hasselbach Hall, Northamptonshire, England,
who, with his older brother, J. Bruce Ismay,, founded the White Star
Shipping Line, which built the Titanic. J. Bruce, aboard the T,
jumped ship to his everlasting shame and infamy.

The artist's monogram at lower right appears to be
that of Gertrude Hudson (1878 - 1958).

Ethel May Newbold (1882-1933), D.Sc., was a fellow of the
Royal Statistical Society and author of many papers while
coordinating and supervising medical and industrial statistical
inquiries for the Medical Research Council.

No, not that JFK.

We don't yet know who W.E. Stanley Merrett
was but he, apparently, had books on the brain.
His motto was "Practices passionately pursued become habits,"
here presumably referring to his love of book collecting.

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All images courtesy of The Bookplate Society, with our thanks.
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Of Related Interest:

Bookplates in a Printer's Library Part I.

Bookplates in a Printer's Library Part II.

Bookplate Special On Menu at Bonham's.

Menacing Bookplates (Don't Mess With This Book!).

The Only Bookplate Designed By René Lalique. 

Authentic G. Washington Bookplate Comes To Auction.

The Man With The Bookplate Jones.

Virginia Library Serves Up Bookplate Special.

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Kids Give Dog A Colonic, And Other Childhood Amusements In 1824

by Stephen J. Gertz

The Remedy. (Aubry).

Kids Do The Darnedest Things:

It's France's Funniest Home Videos, nineteenth century edition, capturing, in hand-colored stills, those precious cinema verité moments when kids will be kids and memories are forever imprinted on the heart.

Particularly on the heart of a dog being given an involuntary clyster in der keister with a syringe that could pass for a cruise missile.

It's one of six lithographs in Jeux de l'enfance [Childhood Games] by Charles Aubry, a color-plate album printed and published in Paris by François Seraphin Delpech (1778-1825), the great, early French lithographer, in 1824.

The Little Smoker. (Aubry).

Poor children. With Le Gulp Grande banned in Paris by an ancestor of New York's Mayor Bloomberg concerned with 19th century childhood obesity, opportunities to mimic dangerous adult behavior have dwindled, leaving smoking as one of the last bad adult habits for kids to engage in. The leader is a cool little hipster drummer boy; leave it to a musician to corrupt those around him. We do not see, however, the rib-tickling denouement to this scene, when Junior on the left and the girl at right get sick and toss their cookies.

The Paper-Curlers. (Aubry).

After enduring a colon-cleansing and now, presumably, purified of toxins, it's time for Fido's trip to the beauty salon. He doesn't look any happier than when he was fundamentally invaded, and we get a hint of how this tableau will play out as little Jane employs the curling iron and curling papers, a friend rapturously looking on while Fido nears feral, gives the little boy a look to kill and the kid understands to his horror that his nose will soon be Alpo.

The Pioneer's Beard. (Aubry).

Boo! Imitating ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons or Rasputin the Mad Monk is always a sure-fire laff-riot. The girl in the middle is cooly faux-frightened but the bejesus is clearly scared out of her companion at left. It's not, in and of itself, material for France's Funniest Home Videos but it has something extra that levitates above the banal: the poor dog at lower right appears to be suffering from them way down home, 'gainst my will, high-colonic blues.

The Flick. (Aubry).

Revenge of the Girls! While Dennis Le Menace sleeps, his sisters torment him, the youngest gently flicking his cheek to annoy without actually rousing him. Moments later, however, he awakes with a start and bladder accident. That's entertainment!

The Little Actors. (Aubry).

There's an interesting political subtext to the above plate with young boy being dressed-up as the king with pillow to allow for the monarch's girth: Jeux de l'enfance was published in 1824 and on September 16 of that year, Louis XVIII, the rotund progressive who reigned in post-Napoleon, Bourbon Restoration France, died, and Charles X, a hard-core reactionary, assumed the throne. He was not well-liked and in short order had censorship laws passed amongst other regressive and unpopular legislation; he was forced to abdicate in the July (Second) Revolution of 1830. Jeux de l'enfance by Aubry first appears in the Bibliographie de la France in its January 8, 1825 issue, as no. 41 in the Gravures section. The children are celebrating a popular and recently deceased king at the expense of the new king, Charles X. Aubry was playing with fire; such sentiments would soon become dangerous to publicly express.

Artist Charles Aubry made his reputation with hunting scenes and military  subjects. In  1822  he  accepted  the post of  professor of  art at l'Ecole Militaire de  Saumur.  That's about all that's readily available about the man. Note that he taught art in a military academy, an unlikely salon. But this is France and what's wrong with art appreciation for warriors? It's dash and élan du soldat, my friends, dash and élan. With paintbrush.

Grandmother's Bonnet. (Boilly).

This particular copy of Jeux de l'enfance is part of a collection album that includes prints by J.F. Scheffert, and two lithographs by Louis Leopold Boilly, the Boilly prints likely added to the album because they cover the same territory as Jeux..., albeit the scenes less aggressive than Aubry's views, Boilly's placid dog spared the humiliating depredations of Aubry's prepubescent juvenile delinquents gleefully engaged in mischievous play.

Grandfather's Wig. (Boilly).

Boilly's children, in contrast, enjoy completely innocent activity, scenes so charming that they will not be finalists in this week's episode of France's Funniest Home Videos. They lack that certain something, that je ne sais cruel slapstick that inspires peals of laughter rather than pleasant smiles that warm the heart but cool the ratings. In the above tableau, for instance, unless the bewigged little girl subsequently slips on a banana peel, does a header into the air, lands on Grandfather's top hat, then smites her brother with Grandfather's cane, where's the side-splitting guffaw?

On its own, Jeux de l'enfance is an insanely scarce book with only one copy in institutional holdings worldwide, at the Morgan Library. The Bibliothéque National has a set of the prints bound within a collection album.

I am aware of another album containing Jeux de l'enfance bound with the two Boilly lithographs, it, as well as the Aubry-Scheffer-Boilly album under notice, in a contemporary binding likely issued by Delpech to move unsold prints, a tactic routinely and successfully employed by Delpech's successor, Chez Aubert, the esteemed Parisian printing and publishing house owned by caricaturist, journalist and famed publisher of political and social satire (with a stable of artists that constitute the golden age of French caricature), Charles Philipon,  and operated under the nominal stewardship of his brother-in-law, Gabriel Aubert, and his wife, Philipon's sister, Marie-Françoise, the management brain, it appears, in the business.

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AUBRY, Charles and BOILLY, Louis Leopold. Jeux de l'enfance. Paris: Delpech, 1824. First (only) edition. Folio. Eight hand-colored lithographs, six in series by Aubry, two out of series by Boilly.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Meet Paul Parrot, Rare Bird Casanova & Star Of Rare Book

by Albert

Today's guest blogger is, once more, Albert the Writing Parrot, a thirty-four year old Yellow-Naped Amazon, Booktryt's mascot, my ward since his five-months old birthday, and, pathetically, my most successful long-term relationship. He knows more about these books than I do. If his writing voice sounds similar to mine do not be surprised. He is, after all, a parrot  - SJG.

Title-page.

Me again, pressed into service with the promise of a filbert thrown my way. I'm a conditioned fool.

Tittums Deserting Fido.

As the go-to bird on parrot books I'm often asked, What's the best volume on Mr. Paul Parrot, the notoriously horny hook-bill, fine-feathered lothario, and wandering roué with wings?

Step into my cage, sit at my zygodactyl feet, lend me an ear (I need a nosh), and I shall tell you, strictly entre-nous, a scandalous tale exceeded only, perhaps, by that of Aly Khan, the "fabulously wealthy, hard riding, fast driving, restless man of the world with a liking for parties and beautiful women" (NY Times, Feb. 7, 1958) for whom hi-fidelity was strictly for sound recordings; faithfulness to wives and lovers cramped his style.

There was Hon. Joan Guinness, Pamela Churchill Harriman, Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, countless other high-profile lovers, as well as the UCLA Pep Squad, the Pan American Airlines stewardess brigade, and a cast of gorgeous thousands from various Hollywood epics, take your pick. He needed a spreadsheet to keep track of the sheet spreads on his schedule.

Tittums Walking Out With The Parrot.

What's the book? In 1858, The Faithless Parrot by Charles H. Bennett was published by George Routledge and Co. of London as part of their New Toy Books series. The great, innovative color printer Edmund Evans engraved and printed the book's seven woodcuts based upon Bennett's designs.

It's the (one and only) cautionary tale of Paul Parrot, who, having seduced Tittums, a cat, from the arms of her lover, Fido, a dog (it's a modern relationship), and then two-timing her with the widow Mrs. Daw, a comely jackdaw,  gets his comeuppance when Tittums catches him in the act and he gets plucked within an inch of his life. 

The Parrot Courting The Jackdaw.

"Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the parrot mind" (Marcus Tullius Psittacine Cicero). It's a lesson Paul Parrot missed at Eton.

He's a votary of Oscar Wilde: "Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failures” (The Picture of Dorian Gray).

Eaves-Droppers.

To which I can only reply, Double, double, toil and trouble: Bill Shakes knew what he was talking about - I date more than one bird at a time and I'm a nervous wreck;  I'm faithful secondary to woeful and that's fine with me. I once woke up with two scarlet macaws and an African Gray next to me in a sleazy nest. They must have slipped me a Rophie - I have no idea how I got there and, worse, have no memory of what was probably an ecstatic night but all l took away from it was feather-burn and a hangover. So much for bird of paradise wanna-be's.

It never ceases to amaze me how some kitties will fall for any suave hookbill with a silver-tongue, to wit:

The Parrot Exposed.

"One morning, when Tittums came in from a visit she had been paying her mamma, she was followed by a gentleman from the tropics, who, with all the impudence of his race, made himself quite at home, pressed Tittums’ paw to his heart, called her 'the loveliest of Cats,' asked her to oblige him with a song, which he had been told she could sing very sweetly, and never took the least notice of poor Fido, who was sitting in the corner. To tell the truth, poor Fido was very cross, and began to growl quite savagely; the more so when, to his dismay, he beheld the pleasure with which Tittums heard all this nonsense. He could not think what right the bold stranger had to come there unasked; for all that he had bright red and green feathers, a rakish, broad-brimmed hat, and a gold-headed walking-cane, he was not good-looking, that was very certain.

"But Tittums was very much struck by his appearance and bearing; his feathers were so pretty, he spoke so many languages, shrieked so terribly and in such a loud voice, had travelled so much, and was so struck by the beauty of Tittums, that, poor little Cat as she was, she ceased to care a button for faithful Fido, and kept all her sly glances for Mr. Paul Parrot.

“'Lovely Tittums,' said Mr. Paul, 'you must forget such upstart puppies as Fido. Listen to me—I am a traveller—I speak five languages,—I have a palace made of golden bars, within which is a perch fit for a king,—I have a pension of bread and milk and Barcelona nuts: all of which I will share with you. Tomorrow we will go for a trip into the field next to the house. Good-bye for the present, my dear Pussy Cat;' and he went away kissing his hand."

Pussycats, this is the bird your mother warned you about. Never trust a mister who kisses his own hand.

The Parrot Getting a Good Picking.

Because this is a typical mid-nineteenth century children's book it's a didactic moral tale that must conclude with Mr. Paul Parrot paying the wages of sin.

"As soon as Mrs. Daw was left alone with Paul, she began to upbraid him with his falseness. 'You vulgar, stuck-up, ugly, awkward deceiver! You have neither honesty enough to live by, nor wings enough to fly with.' Whereupon she jumped at him and gave him such a plucking as spoilt his good looks.

"Never after this was the Parrot able to hold up his head. Every one scorned him; even his golden palace turned out to be a brass cage; and for his misdeeds a chain was fastened round his leg. He was confined to a wooden perch, which, out of pure spite, he was always pecking."

No compulsive horn-dog parrot pecker one-liners. Sorry to disappoint. What am I, Henny Youngbird?

There was a parrot-babe knocking on my hotel room door all night! Finally, I let her out.
 

I know a parrot who's frank and earnest with pussycats. In Fresno, he's Frank and in Chicago he's Ernest.

Take my mate - please!

Rimshot.

I give The Faithless Parrot 5-Seeds, my highest rating. It's a true rarity; according to OCLC there are less than a dozen copies in institutional holdings worldwide. The Cotson Children's Library at Princeton only has it as reprinted within Routledge's 1865 compilation, The Comical Story Book With Comical Illustrations: Printed In Colours. It was separately reprinted by Routledge in 1870.

I'll have that filbert now.
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BENNETT, Charles H. The Faithless Parrot. Designed and Narrated by… London: G. Routledge and Co., n.d. [1858]. First edition. Quarto. 15, [1] pp. Seven full-page woodcuts engraved and printed in color by Edmund Evans.

Rear wrapper.

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Images courtesy of The Gutenberg Project, with our thanks.

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Of Related Interest:

The Writing Parrot On Rare Parrot Books.

Parrots Found In Rare Book On German Birds: The Writing Parrot Squawks.

The Shadow Of Your Smile Is A Monkey: The Caricatures Of Charles H. Bennett.
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Four Sets of Rare and Exceptional Bookends

by Stephen J. Gertz

We have an affection for fine bookends at Booktryst. A colleague is now offering four outstanding and collectible examples we thought we'd share with you.

Nudes on Books.    [American]: Nuart Creations, [ca. 1929].

(8.5 x 4.25 x 2.5 inches). Just over 5 pounds the pair. Pot  metal  with a  warm  bronze  finish. Both stamped "© Nuart N.Y.C.", and retain most of the original felt bottoms. A  couple tiny spots of loss to finish, small dings to both girls' noses, but still an exquisite  set.

Yes, we prefer our ladies with a warm bronze finish with their original felt bottoms, a few dings on the nose an ethnic plus. It demonstrates character; these beauts have been around, and are proud of the face they've earned, screw cosmetic surgery.

Nuart Creations was known for its attractive and  inventive Art  Deco  female  figures,  of which  this  rare pair is a prime example.

Variant of Kuritzky, Collector's Encyclopedia of Bookends. Identification & Values 1182.

Perfect Symmetry.    [American: Glauber, ca. 1925].

(9 x 5.5 x 3.25 inches). Almost 9 pounds the pair. Solid bronze.

Variant of Kuritzky, Collector's Encyclopedia of Bookends. Identification & Values 1208.

I know that many Booktryst readers are dog lovers. Below, a pair of gorgeous  greyhounds, albeit gold.

Greyhounds.    [Unknown Manufacturer, n.d.].

(7.25 x 3.5 x 5 inches). 8 pounds the pair. Cast of gold finished gray metal, set on marble bases.

There's an Art Deco-Egyptian deity quality to these bookends that is particularly attractive; a handsome pair.

Variant of Kuritzky, Collector's Encyclopedia of Bookends. Identification & Values 424.

We move from the cool and remote idols above, to the nearly-too-cute-for-words-I-may-go-into-diabetic-shock-yet-gosh-darned-adorable dogs below.

Dogs on Black Leather Chairs.  New York: Nuart Creations, [ca. 1935].
(158 x 145 mm.) Four and a half pounds the pair. Cream-colored metal dogs on black painted chairs, also metal. One with its original felt bottom, the other lacking, aw shucks, both stamped  "© Nuart Creations N.Y.C. Made in USA."

Kuritzky, Collector's Encyclopedia of Bookends. Identification & Values 1230.

I'm just thankful that the dogs are on black leather and not in it, with collar, muzzle, and chain leash: An ASPCA Vice-Squad nightmare!
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Images courtesy of Dragon Books, which is currently offering these  bookends, with our thanks (for the pix).
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Untested Tranquilizer Back In Circulation At Yale Library

By Nancy Mattoon

"Monty," Yale Law Library's
Controversial Canine Tranquilizer.
(Image Courtesy of Lillian Goldman Law Library.)

A Booktryst story first reported in September 2010, concerning the illicit use of an untested tranquilizer at the Yale Law School Library, has taken a new turn. Once again, the scoop on the continuing controversy involving the Lillian Goldman Law Library comes from the online legal tabloid, Above The Law. Last year, the tabloid revealed staffers at the library were circulating a stress-reliever with the street name "Monty" to calm the frayed nerves of the school's would-be legal eagles. Once this irresponsible experiment came to light, the controversial substance was suddenly "withdrawn," and Goldman librarian Julian Aiken denied the entire episode, claiming: "I'm not quite sure where Above the Law got its information from, but we have not actually proceeded with circulating Monty."

Lillian Goldman Law Library's
Original Full Catalog Record For "Monty."
It Was Mysteriously Deleted In September, 2010.

But a March 10, 2011 internal memo obtained by Above The Law reveals that far from abandoning the study of the tranquilizer, technically known as, "Border Terrier Mix General Montgomery," the Yale staffers are now planning a controlled clinical trial of the substance, using volunteer students as guinea pigs. According to the Goldman Library memo: "The Law library intends to run a three-day pilot program starting on March 28, 2011 during which students will be able to “check out” our certified library therapy dog, Monty, for thirty minute periods. We hope that making a therapy dog available to our students will prove to be a positive addition to current services offered by the library."

Above The Law's Paparazzi Captured
This Candid Shot Of Monty in 2010.

It appears that this time around library staffers are determined to rigorously test their new treatment for the psychologically overwhelmed students of America's top-rated law school. Again quoting from the internal memo, "Beginning March 21, 2011, a sign-up sheet with additional information will be available at the circulation desk for students wishing to check out Monty. Even though Monty is hypoallergenic, visits will be confined to a dedicated non-public space in the library to eliminate potential adverse reactions from any library user who might have dog-related concerns. We are committed to ensuring our library remains a welcoming and comfortable environment for all our users. Finally, we will need your feedback and comments to help us decide if this will be a permanent on-going program available during stressful periods of the semester, for example during examinations."

Another 2010 Document From The Goldman Library,
Since Removed From The Catalog.

However, even with this new, much more tightly structured approach to introducing the still-experimental Monty to psychologically vulnerable scholars, official Yale sources remain tight-lipped regarding the stress reliever. "We can confirm that the Law Library is, in fact, doing this pilot program with Monty, the therapy dog, but beyond that, we have nothing to add," said Kathy Colello, the news director in the Office of Public Affairs. When contacted, Goldman library assistant Eugene Kozoloff maintained complete ignorance, stating he had seen “neither hide nor hair” of the dog. But recent law school alum Sohail Ramirez says he has already been introduced to Monty, and can verify that he is “definitely real and awesome.”

Yale's Original Mascot,
"Handsome Dan" The Bulldog,
Is Eerily Similar To Monty.

(Image Courtesy of the Yale University
Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database.)

Booktryst's independent research has revealed some facts that would seem to back-up the validity of the study, but also some decidedly cautionary information. Since Monty is a "mix," that means some of his genetic background remains a question mark. But according to Wikipedia, the Border Terrier breed's "love of people and even temperament make them fine therapy dogs, especially for children and the elderly, and they are occasionally used to aid the blind or deaf." On the other hand, student test subjects should have a care, Border Terriers were "originally bred as fox and vermin hunters...they will get along well with cats that they have been raised with, but may chase other cats and small animals such as mice, rabbits, squirrels, rats, and guinea pigs." (Emphasis mine.)

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Man Born With Dog's Head!

by Stephen J. Gertz

In this issue of the Weekly World News, featuring the finest in Martian journalism, we report the incredible story of Edmond Du Chaillu of France, born fully human from the neck down but a cocker spaniel from the neck up.

Upon their only child's birth, the Du Chaillu's were, to say the least, shocked:

"When she was told, as tactfully as could be, that she had just given birth to a child with a dog's head, Mme Du Chaillu fainted. After twenty years of sterility, it was a severe blow. M. Du Chaillu was, if possible, even more distraught. For fifteen minutes he seriously felt like killing his spouse, but one glance at her innocent face made him blush for his hideous suspicions. He contented himself with sighing: 'My poor Henriette! We might have been spared this.'

"Mme Du Chaillu burst out sobbing.

"'It's ghastly! How could it have happened? I don't ever want to see it. Do you feel as miserable as I do, Léon?'

"M. Du Chaillu pressed Mme Du Chaillu's hand, whereat she redoubled her tears. Blushing, he inquired in a choking voice: 'Did you think of a dog while you were pregnant?'

"'Never!' cried Mme Du Chaillu. 'Not once!'

"'And . . . before?' murmured M. Du Chaillu, in a still more broken voice.

"'Before?' asked Mme Du Chaillu in surprise.

"The child snuffled in its cradle. The head of a puppy, frail and endearing, surmounted the swaddled body of this newborn human being. Its pink muzzle, its unopened eyes and its soft f'ur wrung from M. Du Chaillu his first tears.

"What will people say?' wondered Mme Du Chaillu."

They will say this is one of the best novels - a grand satire in the tradition of Voltaire - that you may never have heard of, much less read.

Une tête de chien by Jean Dutourd was originally published by Gallimard in 1950. It was issued in an English translation by Robin Chancellor by J. Lehmann, London 1951, and by Simon and Schuster in New York in 1953. As rare books go, the London 1st is most obtainable, followed by the Lion paperback. For some reason yet determined, the 1st American edition is the rarest of the three.
 

London: J. Lehmann, 1951. First edition in English.
Image courtesy of MW Books Ltd.

Related in a dry, understated, deadpan reporter's voice, A Dog's Head is a sardonic critique of humanity, existence, and the plight of the "other." It is at once tragic, devastating, and delightfully witty - at times laugh-out-loud hilarious - written with stylish charm in a sure hand.

Life isn't easy for Edmund. Is his bark worse than his bite? Can he help himself when he presents the morning newspaper to his parents in his mouth? How does he cope with the cruel taunts of schoolmates? Hold a job? Meet women and develop relationships? Have sex?
 

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953. First American edition.
Image courtesy of Between the Covers.

Edmund wants to experience all that human existence can offer. He drinks, uses drugs, visits brothels,  enjoys the whole gamut of human pleasures, illicit or otherwise. He is sometimes a very naughty dog.
 

His parents want him to become a lawyer but he's advised that, with the head of a spaniel, he will likely make a poor impression in court. [Jackel-heads evidently, get along just fine]. He gets a job as a banker. He falls in love with a cruel wanton. She dumps him. He becomes rich, keeps dogs as pets, and establishes a life as human as possible for a man with a head worthy of the Westchester Kennel Club. Edmund finally meets the woman of his dreams, who accepts him fully for what he is. At that point, the story takes a turn leading to a denouement as tragically inevitable as it is deliriously funny.

Dutourd establishes a straight, matter-of-fact tone and then never lets up, rigorously sticking to the fantasy and never tipping his hand. The book is an expertly cut diamond.

While the first editions in French and English are certainly collectible, it is the first English edition in paperback that remains the most desirable, in my opinion; the cover art takes the prize. (The artist, alas, remains unidentified). The publisher, Lion Books, was founded by Martin Goodman in 1949 (he later established Marvel Comics). Copies in fine condition sell for about the same amount as the American first edition in hardcover.

New York: Lion Books 196, 1954. First English edition in paperback.

"Dutourd is a fine craftsman, whose work has the classic virtues of brevity, lucidity, and concentration. He has written a sardonic divertissement that concerns itself with fundamental problems of man's existence-a tale that is sad-eyed, witty, and often very funny" (Charles J. Rolo, New York Times Book Review).

"A tiny masterpiece in the French classical tradition. . . . Stylish, elegant and witty, and told with an apparent lightheartedness that points to rather than obscures the hero's essential tragedy" (P. L. Travers, New York Herald Tribune).

"Wit, a good deal of shrewd classical allusion, and a Voltarian satire are the book's assets" (Edmund Fuller, Chicago Tribune).

"The work of an expert craftsman and of a careful writer of prose, ending with the rarest gift in modern letters: the comic spirit" (Henri Peyre, The Saturday Review).

"Dutourd might well have dropped his story at this point, had it been his intention simply to excoriate the human race for its treatment of those who are physically afflicted. Instead, he presses on in his terse, deadpan prose to teach a lesson to the afflicted of the world as well" (Time).

"A Dog's Head is one of the most curious, most beautifully conceived and written fantasies you've ever come across" (J. H. Jackson, San Francisco Chronicle).

"A Dog's Head is an excellent joke in the worst possible taste, and its author, M. Jean Dutourd, is a satirist of the first rank" (The New Yorker).

University of Chicago Press issued a reprint in 1998; collect the first editions (particularly the Lion paperback) and use this one as a reading copy.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Now go, fetch the book! Atta boy! You're a good d-- er, human!
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Untested Tranquilizer Circulates At Yale Library

Yale Law Library's Photo Of The Now Withdrawn Tranquilizer.
(Images Courtesy of Above The Law.)

The story broke September 13, 2010 in the online legal tabloid, Above The Law: Yale Law School's Lillian Goldman Law Library was circulating a previously untested stress reliever for frazzled Esquires-In-Training. Going by the street name, "Monty," it was said to be safer than a tab of Valium or Ativan, and was freely available over the counter. But this balm for frayed nerves proved so dangerously addictive that by September 14 it had been withdrawn from the shelves. Now Law Librarian Julian Aiken is denying the entire episode, claiming: "I'm not quite sure where Above the Law got its information from, but we have not actually proceeded with circulating Monty."

Unfortunately for Aiken, there is not only photographic evidence to the contrary, but Above The Law also obtained internal cataloging records which confirmed Monty's previous circulation at the Library:

Lillian Goldman Law Library's Brief Catalog Record For "Monty."

The Online Image Of The Item.

And The Full Description Of The Same Item:

Yale Law School is consistently ranked the number one law school in the nation according to U.S. News And World Report. Nevertheless Librarian Julian Aiken claims that circulating an untested stress reliever to its already overwhelmed students was simply a joke : "The idea of circulating [Monty] at the Yale Law Library is one that has been humorously kicked around." Aiken had better get ready for a Michael Vick style dogfight if PETA gets wind of the Library's involvement in the trafficking of this controversial canine tranquilizer.
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Previously on Booktryst: These Libraries Are Going To The Dogs