Search Results: Humor and Satire from Louise Aird

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humorist. From 1915 to1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humorist in the world.
He is famous for his not-unkind criticisms of people's follies and foibles and is still called 'the funniest man who ever lived.'
Leacock wrote 22 works of non-fiction, 2 biographies and 29 novels; Model Memoirs is his 23rd. It was published in 1938 by Dodd Mead. As was the case with all of his books, additional printings had to be done regularly—this is a copy from the 4th printing, in 1940.
316 pages, 5 1/4" x 7 1/2"
It is red boards with an imprinted design on the cover and gold lettering on the spine. There is a little fading to the spine but no real shelf wear.
The covers are in perfect condition.
It was given to a father from a son in 1941; on the front endpaper, the son inscribed it, in pencil, the father signed it in ink.
Aside from that, there are no marks in the book. The spine is nice and tight. It is in perfect… Read More

Moll Flanders is a raucous tale detailing the life of a sexually-free and conniving woman who search for happiness involves 7 children and 4 husbands. It is possibly the actual autobiography of the London criminal Moll King.
Reader's Digest 2006, 324 pages
Navy blue covers with overlapping purple spine, brilliant gold design & lettering on front and spine.
Untouched. No shelf-wear, lovely paper.
There are no marks of any kind in or on this book.
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 the Folio Society's 1972 edition of The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, the brilliant Daniel Defoe novel first published in 1722. It purports to be a true story, and is based on the famous London criminal Moll King.
As is the case with all Folio Society's books, this one is of the best quality, with beautiful paper. Scarlet covers in a gray slipcase. It is lavishly illustrated with ink sketches by the British artist Nigel Lambourne (1919-1988).
The spine has been cracked at the front but there's no evidence that anyone read this book. The Folio Society subscription card is still in it. It's in mint condition.

This is an unread copy of The New Morningside Papers, the second volume of letters, opinion and stories by the famed Canadian journalist and broadcaster Peter Gzowski (1934-2002). Gzowski hosted various shows on CBC Radio for 30 years; his pieces are funny, sad, entertaining and informative.I say that this is a first edition because I don't believe that his books were ever issued in hardcover. If they were, the soft cover editions were issued in the same year. I've only seen them in 6" x 9" trade paperback, which is what this copy is. 408 pages, with little illustrations.This book has never been read, or even opened. But the paper has darkened quite a bit. The covers have a tiny bit of shelfwear, just at the edges. Other than that, it's perfect.

November 14, 2006
93 Pages, no label

Cover: Watch Your Back Mountain, by Mark Ulriksen
Torture Policy, Louisiana Sinking, Hamas, Puccini, Getty Malibu House
See Table of Contents Scan
Condition: Excellent. There is a tiny white scratch near the spine, which can be masked.

November 22, 1999 – The Cartoon Issue.
216 Pages, no label, small barcode
Cover: Something for Everyone, by Roz Chast
Andy Kaufman, Poisoning in Japan, Gore & Clinton, New York Yankees
See Table of Contents Scan
New Yorker Cartoons, Andy Kaufman, Poisoning in Japan, Gore & Clinton, New York Yankees
Condition: Pristine.
The magazine has not been read and the original insert cards are in it.
It had an advertising card glued to the front cover. Some of the glue is still on the spine; you can easily remove it.

Roz Chast (1954-) is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Since 1978, she has published more than 800 cartoons in The New Yorker.She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.

The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1853). It was published in serial form in 1854 and1855 and its events occur over many years and in several countries. The main part is set a decade or two after the action of Vanity Fair, and some of the characters in Vanity Fair are mentioned. The narrator is Arthur Pendennis, the protagonist of Pendennis. It was illustrated by Richard Doyle, both in literal renderings of the scenes and in symbolic and fanciful depictions of events and characters. It was quite popular—Ethel Barrymore was named after one of its characters, and Colonel Newcome came to be an emblem of virtue for the period.
In 1882, John Lovell founded John W Lovell Publishing in New York. He published several series of books, one of which was the English Humorist Series. That series included many Thackeray works, including the Newcomes. Lovell went out of business in 1890 (members of his family carried on into the '30s).
The English… Read More

This is a program from a 1976 production of No Sex Please, We're British at the Strand Theatre, London. This is a famous play that the critics panned, but audiences loved--it ran from 1971 to 1987 - 6,761 performances.
This production starred Doris Hare, McDonald Hobley and Arthur Howard.
Mint condition.

April 19 & 26, 2004 – SPRING HUMOUR ISSUE
208 Pages, no label
Cover: Spring Break, Danny Shanahan
See Table of Contents Scan
Condition: Excellent - a tiny bit of creasing

Danny Shanahan is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author who has worked for The New Yorker for 25 years.

The Onion's Finest News Reporting, Volume I
168 Pages, Soft Cover, Published 2000
The Onion, which is now online only, is just about the funniest magazine around these days.
This is a compilation of its work up to 2000, when it was still a printed magazine.
It's not that clean-looking, but it's not meant to look good.
It hasn't been read.
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 Dickens' last (complete) novel, and one of his most sophisticated and complicated. It was written in 1864-65 and is known for its biting social satire.
This copy was published by Chapman & Hall, Covent Garden, in August 1907. It is the first issue of this edition (see image). It was given as a gift to someone named Sophie in 1909 (see image). I can't tell if the inscription is in pencil or faded ink; I haven't tried to erase it.
It is olive green boards with a 'D' imprinted on the front cover and bright green lettering on the spine. The covers need a good brushing. The pages are a little darkened but the spine is in superb condition. There is one illustration, full-page, facing the title page; it is the original by Marcus Stone.
779 pages, 4 1/2" x 7".


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 first reprint of the Oxford Book of Humorous Prose, a 'Conducted Tour' by the English comedy writer Frank Muir (1920-1998).
It is not a true anthology; it is a stroll through various humorists of various nationalities writing in English: the standard (Dickens, Twain), the expected (Dorothy Parker, Benchley, Shaw), the unexpected (Edgar Allen Poe, George Eliot), the well-known (Waugh, Leacock, Amis), the unknown (Johnson I. Hooper; Barry Crump), the classic (Sterne, Samuel Johnson), and the modern (Erma Bombeck, Garrison Keillor). Selections are generally very short, with bridges, often fairly humorous of themselves, by Muir. The humor ranges from the broad to the subtle. I attach photos of some of the contents pages.
It was an instant best-seller when it was published in 1990, this is the first reprint, from the same year.
It is 1154 pages and weighs 3 lbs.
The dust jacket has a little wear--small tears that have been taped.
The book itself is in mint condition, with no marks of any kind in… Read More

Penrod is a collection of comic sketches by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1914. The book follows the trials and misadventures of Penrod Schofield, an eleven-year-old boy growing up in the pre-WWI Midwestern US, in a similar vein to Tom Sawyer. Penrod establishes the characters and the relationships between those who go on to appear in two further books, Penrod and Sam (1916) and Penrod Jashber (1929).This book was published by Doubleday Page in 1914; thereafter, it was reprinted by Grosset & Dunlap, and was produced as a 'Thrushwood Book'. This is the first reprint of the first edition. It is illustrated by Gordon Grant.
As you can see, the dust jacket is not in the best of shape—there are a few bits of it missing, which has resulted in fading to 1" of the spine at top. Otherwise, the book is in pristine condition, with bright red boards and dark black printing on the spine and front. Inside, the book is unread, with spine intact, no marks of any kind,… Read More

This is a very funny send-up of People Magazine.
See Table of Contents Scan
114 Pages
There are little bits of wear at the edges, but it's in perfect condition.
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 Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was Charles Dickens' first novel. It was a publishing phenomenon at the time (1836) and remains a best-seller. It was written as a serial and is a collection of connected incidents--it's very funny.
This copy was published by Nelson Doubleday's Dodd Mead & Co in 1944.
5 2/3" x 8 1/2", 687 pages.
The cover has yellowed a little and there are some scuff marks on the spine.
But It was never read; it has not been opened. The spine is so tight that I could only slip the phone into it enough to grab the photos you see here. The paper is white, clear and unmarked.

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 first American edition copy of Pomp and Circumstance, the only novel by Noel Coward (1899-1973) the English playwright so famous for his wit and depiction (or creation) of 'the chattering class'. It was published by Methuen in the UK, and Doubleday in the US, both in1960.
The book was greeted with wide critical acclaim: "A South Sea Bubble of a book it is, with a Royal Visit expected on the Island of Samolo, and the narrator, a mother of three, dealing with everything from chicken-pox to the amours of a visiting Duchess.", (Daily Telegraph); "If there is anywhere on earth where the old Coward world still credibly lingers on, it is probably a fairly peaceful tropical colony ruled over by a British Governor General . . . Coward's long cast list might have walked out of one of his better comedies.", (Evening Standard); "It is all good, near-clean fun, magnificently readable.",(Sunday Times).
This copy has lost its dust jacket and the front cover and spine need cleaning.
It is 308 pages, pale… Read More

The Provost is the best-known work of John Galt (1779-1839), a Scottish writer, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator known as being the first political novelist in the English language.
The Provost is an ironic look at the career of a small-town merchant and politician, James Pawkie. Set in Irvine, Scotland, it follows his career from humble apprentice, to shop-owner to land-owner as he also becomes involved in local politics. Eventually, he is elevated to the supreme position of local power, the Provost, where he uses his position and wealth to manipulate the residents of Irvine to do his bidding. Using a comedic touch, John Galt delves into the issues of use and misuse of power. Galt was a prolific novelist; The Provost, published in 1822, is heralded as his masterpiece.
This copy was published by T.N. Foulis in 1913 and is an extraordinary book. I expect that it was the only edition issued by this publisher.
It is light brown boards with black type on the cover and gold type on the… Read More

Anatole France (Francois-Anatole Thibault, 1844-1924) was a French poet, journalist and best-selling novelist. He was considered the ideal French man of letters and, in 1921, won the Nobel Prize in Literature.France wrote 25 novels; Penguin Island (1908) was his 21st.
It is a sprawling satirical novel about a fictitious island, inhabited by great auks, that existed off the northern coast of Europe. A wayward Christian missionary monk lands on the island and sees the upright, unafraid auks as a sort of pre-Christian society of noble pagans. Mostly blind from reflections from the polar ice and deaf from the roar of the sea, having mistaken the animals for humans, he baptizes them. This causes a problem for The Lord, who normally only allows humans to be baptized. After consulting with saints and theologians in Heaven, He resolves the dilemma by converting the baptized birds to humans with only a few physical traces of their ornithological origin,and giving them each a soul. Thus begins the… Read More

This is a mint-condition copy of The Red and The Black, A Chronicle of the 19th Century, the brilliant novel written in 1830 by the great French author Stendhal (Henri Beyle).
It is a social satire, and psychological novel, about the ambitious, social-climbing, manipulative Julian Sorel, who becomes the pawn of the ruthless people around him.
This copy was published by The Heritage Press in 1974. It is a large heavy book; 7" x 10 1/2". 450 pages of beautiful paper. It uses the 1926 illustrations by the German-American artist Rafaello Busoni (1900-1962).
It comes in a black slipcase which has a lot of fading. But the book does not appear to have been read; it is pristine.

This is a first edition of The Reivers, a Reminiscence, written by William Faulkner and published in 1962. It was his last novel, and won him his second Pulitzer Prize. It is a comedy and, in 1969, was made into a movie starring Steve McQueen.

As you can see, the dust jacket (unclipped) is dappled and has some wear to the edges. There is a little dent on the cover, about 1/4" long. Inside, the book is in mint condition—red boards with a gold design on the cover and spine. It's pristine.