GOOD STORIES of Man and Other Animals
by Reade, Charles
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Yarmouth, Maine, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
1884. With Illustrations by E.A. Abbey, Percy MacQuoid and Joseph Nash. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. 32 pp ads dated Sept 1884. Original red cloth decorated in black.
First Edition of this collection of fourteen short "good stories" -- about twenty pages each, on average. One of the more amusing -- or enraging, depending on one's point of view -- is "Exchange of Animals," where, opposite an illustration of a woman held with a leash on an auction block (this book was published two years before THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, which would open with a very similar event), a man says, Gentlemen, I have to offer to your notice my wife... It is her wish as well as mine to part for ever, and will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder. Gentlemen, the lot now offered for competition has been to me a bosom serpent. I took it for my comfort and the good of my house; but it became my tormentor, a domestic curse, a night invasion, and a daily devil. The Lord deliver us from termagant wives, and troublesome widows! Gentlemen, avoid them as you would a mad dog, a roaring lion, a loaded pistol, cholera morbus, or any other pestilential phenomenon. (Despite such a sales pitch, the man winds up pleased to get a Newfoundland dog plus twenty shillings for his wife.) This is a very good-plus copy, with the one noteworthy flaw that the bright red cloth is rather darkened on the spine -- as is often the case with this color. NCBEL III 880.
First Edition of this collection of fourteen short "good stories" -- about twenty pages each, on average. One of the more amusing -- or enraging, depending on one's point of view -- is "Exchange of Animals," where, opposite an illustration of a woman held with a leash on an auction block (this book was published two years before THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, which would open with a very similar event), a man says, Gentlemen, I have to offer to your notice my wife... It is her wish as well as mine to part for ever, and will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder. Gentlemen, the lot now offered for competition has been to me a bosom serpent. I took it for my comfort and the good of my house; but it became my tormentor, a domestic curse, a night invasion, and a daily devil. The Lord deliver us from termagant wives, and troublesome widows! Gentlemen, avoid them as you would a mad dog, a roaring lion, a loaded pistol, cholera morbus, or any other pestilential phenomenon. (Despite such a sales pitch, the man winds up pleased to get a Newfoundland dog plus twenty shillings for his wife.) This is a very good-plus copy, with the one noteworthy flaw that the bright red cloth is rather darkened on the spine -- as is often the case with this color. NCBEL III 880.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Sumner & Stillman (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 12933
- Title
- GOOD STORIES of Man and Other Animals
- Author
- Reade, Charles
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Date Published
- 1884
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction (19th Century);
Terms of Sale
Sumner & Stillman
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Sumner & Stillman
Biblio member since 2009
Yarmouth, Maine
About Sumner & Stillman
Founded in 1980, Sumner & Stillman is a small family business providing personal service in the buying and selling of literary first editions of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) for over 30 years.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....