Search Results: Humor and Satire from Louise Aird

This book has not been opened or read. There are no marks of any kind in or on it.
It is bright blue with plain covers and black design and lettering on the spine.
The dust jacket is clean and clear with minor shelf wear at the edges and a 1/2" tear on the back.
Alice in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass
The Hunting of the Snark
A Tangled Tale
Phantasmagoria
Nonsense from Letters
Original black and white illustrations by John Tenniel and Henry Holiday
439 pages
Large type
9 1/2" x 7 1/2"
Published by Castle, New Jersey. Undated; probably 2011.

NOTE: If you are OUTSIDE of North America, my quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other shipping options, please contact me.

This is a near-perfect copy of this excellent book.
Published by Hamish Hamilton (London) 1951.
It is the actual first edition, rather than the US first edition.
The Original Dust Jacket is in Good/Fair Condition.
The dust jacket is an illustration by Cecil Beaton.
The book itself is in pristine condition. It has not been read.
The spine is intact. The only flaw is that someone has torn out the front endpaper—the first blank page. But that hasn't hurt the other pages or the binding.
About The Blessing
The Blessing is one of Nancy Mitford's most personal books, a wickedly funny story that asks whether love can survive the clash of cultures.
When Grace Allingham, a naïve young Englishwoman, goes to live in France with her dashingly aristocratic husband Charles-Edouard, she finds herself overwhelmed by the bewilderingly foreign cuisine and the shockingly decadent manners and mores of the French. But it is the discovery of her husband's French notion of marriage—which includes a permanent mistress… Read More

THE BRAND NEW MONTY PYTHON PAPPERBOK
Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam
Methuen 1974, First Paperback Edition, Oversized
96 pages of silliness.
Minor creasing to the spine.
The staining on the cover is supposed to be there, and the cover is treated so as to attract more dirt.
The inside is perfect.


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This is a first edition of Every Living Thing, by the Scottish veterinarian James Herriot (1916-1995). Herriot famously chronicled his life as a veterinary surgeon in the Yorkshire Dales and his books became the movie and two tv series All Creatures Great and Small. There were eight books in the series; this is the last, published in 1992.It was simultaneously published in the UK, the US, and Canada. This edition was issued by Canada's McClelland and Stewart.This copy is in superb condition. 342 clean, creamy white pages. It does not appear to have been read and would be in mint condition, except that there are what look like thumbprints on pages 165-169. Other than that, it is perfect.

This is a perfect copy of The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, the classic comedic novel written by the Scottish writer Tobias Smollett (1721-1771). It is about a stableman who travels to the social hot spots of Britain in the service of an unpleasant family. It was published in 1771; it is Smollett's last and funniest novel.
This copy was published by Thomas Nelson, Edinburgh, in 1912. Navy blue leatherette with brilliant gold lettering on the spine. 4 1/4" x 6 1/4". 453 unadorned pages.
The original owner printed her name on the front endpaper. But there is no evidence that she read it. It's in mint condition--pristine.

This is a pristine copy of The Genius of James Thurber, a 42-story collection from the much-loved American comedy writer (1894-1961). The selection includes some of Thurber's finest and funniest works: The Owl in the Attic, The Pet Department, My Life and Hard Times, The Night the Bed Fell, The Car We Had to Push, The Day the Dam Broke, The Night the Ghost Got In etc.
Thurber illustrated his own stories, and this book contains numerous cartoons.
It was published by the Folio Society in 1997 and was a best-seller. This is a copy of its third printing, in 2000.
The book is silver plasticized paper with a black design of Thurber's drawings. It is in a light gray slipcase. The only flaw is two fingerprints on the slipcase.
Inside, the book is flawless. It has not been read, the spine has not been cracked. It is in perfect condition. Like new.

Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

This is a stated First Edition, and first printing, of Good Intentions, a 128-poem collection by the American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971).
Blue boards with a black and gold design on the cover and spine. 180 pages of thick paper.
This copy has fading to the spine and a little spot on the cover. It has an old book smell--not musty, but dusty. Minor wear to the edges. The pages are all clean and clear.

The Goodies was a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie. They wrote for and performed in their eponymous television comedy show during the 1970s and early 1980s, combining sketches and situation comedy. They were at Cambridge with John Cleese, Eric Idle and Graham Chapman and went on to perform with them on various productions. Garden and Oddie are still active, on BBC Radio.
Soft Cover. Perfect Condition except for a small hole on the back cover.
Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, poet, cleric and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. His most famous works are Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal and A Tale of a Tub. He is still regarded as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and his deadpan style caused the term 'Swiftian' to be embedded in the English language.
This is Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships.
It was published in 1947 in the US and is prolifically illustrated by the Spanish-American artist Luis Quintanilla (1893 - 1978).
358 pages.
The dust jacket (unclipped) is laminated and has a small tear (taped) at the top of the spine. The back of the dust jacket was bright yellow but has faded in spots.
The cover has a lot of fingerprints on it--you can clean it with Absorene, or have a bookstore do it.
Inside, the book is in mint condition.

This is a vintage copy of Handy Andy: A Tale of Irish Life, written in 1841 by the Irish novelist, composer, painter and songwriter Samuel Lover (1797-1868). It centers around Andy Rooney, a fellow who has the knack of doing everything the wrong way. It is a hilarious farce regarded as a way to "purge melancholy".
This is one of the Everyman's Library copies, published by Dent in 1954. You can still find the odd copy in the UK but they're rare in North America.
This copy was purchased at Eaton's, the (now-gone) Canadian department store. The owner attached the receipt to the inside front cover with a bookplate.
The dust jacket is not in the best of shape.
The cover has some fingerprints on it and needs cleaning.
The inside is perfect.

This is the first reprint of The History Man, published in 1975 and written by the British author Malcolm Bradbury (1932-2000). It is a savagely funny novel about the sexual exploits of a pretentious academic at a fashionable English university.No dust jacket.
The paper over the spine has been reglued (see photo).
There is a bookplate on the front endpaper, which will come off.The inside is perfect.
Note: If you are outside of North America, the shipping fee is for surface mail without tracking. Contact me for other shipping options.

How's the Squid?A Book of Food Cartoons by New Yorker Cartoonist Jack Ziegler128 pages of Ziegler's favourite cartoons.The book is in pristine condition, except that someone drew 2 short (1") lines on the acknowledgements/data page. But I don't think it's been read. The dust jacket is in excellent condition, with just a little shelf wear.

The Life and Death of the Late Jonathan Wild, the Great
is a satiric novel by Henry Fielding, published in 1743. It tells the story of the life of London underworld boss Jonathan Wild ("Thief-Taker General"), from his birth in 1682 to his execution in 1725. Field took the opportunity to satirize English society; it is highly entertaining.
This copy:
Published as part of Hamish Hamilton's Novel Library series, 1947.
No dust jacket; boards are covered with grey & white printed paper. The spine is covered with bright blue cloth. Bright gold lettering over the spine.
218 pages, 4 1/8" x 7"
Pristine Condition, Never Read
There are no marks of any kind in it or on it; the spine has not been cracked.

This is a first edition of Kingsblood Royal, by the American author Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951). Lewis was the first American author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the first to decline a Pulitzer Prize (for Arrowsmith—he declined because he did not agree with contests where one book or author was praised over another). His works are known for their critical views of American capitalism and materialism, and for his strong characterizations of modern working women.
Neil Kingsblood is a white middle-class man who discovers that he is directly descended from an African. He tells his friends about his ancestry, the news spreads and people behave differently toward him. He loses his banking job and is run out of his whites-only community. He is forced tochoose between continuing what he has come to see as a hollow existence in the white community and taking on the oppressed minority status of the black community. This novel is known as being 'wickedly funny'.
It is beige/gray… Read More

Spike Milligan tells his version of the D.H. Lawrence classic story of the lady who embarks on an affair with the gamekeeper in order to fulfil the physical side of her marriage to a paralyzed husband.I don't think this book has been read. There's the odd bump to the dust jacket but it's like new.Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

The Laugh's On Me is the 12th best-selling book by American writer Bennett Cerf (1898-1971), the founder of Random House. By this time, he was one of the What's My Line? panelists.
It is "a humorous collection of 2000 stories, anecdotes and amiable observations." With several small illustrations by Doug Anderson. Published by Doubleday, 1959.
This copy is in good shape, although it has binding issues. The binding is too tight in some areas, and has cracked open in the center--I suspect that it was so tightly-bound that the original owner did that so he could read it. But it hasn't been thoroughly read.480 pages, bright yellow boards with black lettering on the spine.No dust jacket. There are fingerprints here and there and a tiny ink mark on the cover (see photo). The spine has darkened somewhat. But you can clean it with Absorene.
I couldn't find any copies of this book anywhere else--it's rare. So it would be worth it to have it fixed up.

Note: If you are outside of North America, the… Read More

Life With Father is a collection of short stories by the American author and cartoonist Clarence Day (1874-1935), published just after his death in 1936.
Day wrote humorously about his family and life. The stories of his father were first printed in the New Yorker magazine. They portray a rambunctious, overburdened Wall Street broker who demands that everything from his family should be just so. The more he rails against his staff, his cook, his wife, his horse, salesmen, holidays, his children and the inability of the world to live up to his impossible standards, the more comical and lovable he becomes to his own family who love him despite it all. It is a picture of New York upper-middle-class family life in the 1890s.
In 1939, the book was turned into a play. The Broadway production ran for more than seven years to become the longest-running non-musical play on Broadway, a record that it still holds. The play was adapted into a 1947 feature film and a television series.
This is the Readers Digest… Read More

This is a first edition of Lightly Poached, a 1973 novel written by Lillian Beckwith (1916-2004). Beckwith was English but, in the late 50s, she moved to the Hebrides of Scotland and lived there for 20 years, mainly on the Isle of Skye. She wrote 7 books about her experiences. They're semi-autobiographical, and mostly fiction. They are quite funny and were extremely popular.This is an online synopsis:
'The Lord puts the salmon in the river like he puts the berries on the trees. They're there for all of us, not just for the laird.' The way the Bruachites saw it, poaching wasn't a crime though you did have to keep an eye out for the local police. And it wasn't just fishermen like Erchy and Hector who were experts – even a visiting vicar had been tempted by the fat salmon that filled the island's streams and pools.
Like Lillian Beckwith's other books about life in the Hebrides, Lightly Poached is packed with the enchanting and hilarious adventures of her island friends."
This copy is in mint… Read More

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit was Dickens 7th novel, serialised from 1842 to 1844. It was far from being his most popular work (its theme is selfishness), but he thought it was his best. It also left us with one of literature's most famous villains--Seth Pecksniff.
This copy is from Wordsworth Classics, published in 1994. It has not been read and is in pristine condition, although there is an attractive bookplate on the inside front cover (which can be removed). It contains the illustrations originally done by Hablot Browne. The dust jacket is identical to the cover--both are pristine. There are no marks in or on it. It is 785 pages, and is 3" thick.
Note: If you are outside of North America, the quoted shipping price is for surface mail without tracking. For other options, please contact me.

This is a rare copy of Charles Lever's Martins of Cro'Martin, by the Anglo-Irish author Charles Lever (1806-1872). Lever, who wrote about 30 novels, is now known as one of the most under-rated writers of the 19th century, and well on a par with Thackeray, Trollope and Dickens (Trollope was one of his biggest fans).The story, which begins in 1829, is about an Anglo-Irish family dealing with the profound social and political upheaval taking place in Ireland at the time. Martins of Cro'Martin was originally published in 1856 and usually appeared in 2 volumes, with illustrations/etchings by Phiz (the Dickens illustrator Hablot Brown).
This copy has no illustrations and is 680 pages. It was published in New York by Hurst & Company, as part of its Eminent Authors series, which was released in 1902.
It is burgundy boards with an impressed design on the front cover and bright gold lettering on the spine. There are a couple of spots on the cover, which can be cleaned off. The spine is tight throughout the… Read More