Item #21396 Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich. Stephen Leacock.

Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich

New York and London: John Lane, Bodley Head; Toronto: Bell & Cockburn, 1914. First Canadian Edition. 8vo. 310 pp. Red cloth with gilt lettering in scarce publisher's color illustrated dustjacket. A fine copy in very good dustjacket (spotting along the spine and flap folds; light wear to extremities, more so to spine end), still a nice copy of the scarce first Canadian edition. Item #21396

"Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich" follows the members of the 'Mausoleum Club' on Plutoria Avenue, in an unnamed American city (usually referred to as Plutoria, after its main street), and pokes fun at their obsessive individualism and materialism. As Leacock thought humour to be 'the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life and the artistic expression thereof', "Acardian Adventures" tends to steer slightly away from this form of 'kindliness', and, thus, ranks as one of his most scathing works, as well as arguably one of his funniest. Per the Chicago Evening Post: "Crisp conversation and paragraphs jammed with American sarcasm of the gilt-edged variety characterize this latest effort of a really humorous humorist. Mr. Leacock penetrates upper-class sham and satirizes it cheerfully. This is almost certain to generate little chuckles and long smiles for the intelligent proletarian who treats himself to these 'adventures.'" - wiki.

Price: $750.00

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