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James Thurber: Thurber’s Dogs

Arriving in mid-September. Reserve your copy today at the special prepublication price and it will be shipped to you as soon as books arrive in the warehouse—weeks before the official publication date.
Available in bookstores October 20.

“Only a few books have stayed with me through all the moves and upheavals of adult life, but Thurber’s Dogs is one of them, and it will stay with me to the end.” —Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

Overview
Table of Contents

Overview

“The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals,” writes James Thurber in the introduction to this classic collection honoring the dogs, real and imaginary, that populated his life and work. These two dozen stories and essays and six sequences of drawings portray the unpredictable, often inexplicable relationships between pets and their humans.

In “Josephine Has Her Day,” the first story Thurber ever published, a bull terrier doesn’t quite live up to a couple’s expectations. But when they give her away, they quickly regret their decision and resort to extreme measures to get her back. “The Dog That Bit People” is the uproarious portrait of Muggs the Airedale, a dog that caused Thurber “more trouble than all the other fifty-four or -five put together,” yet unexpectedly found a staunch ally in Thurber’s mother. Several pieces chronicle the misadventures of the Scottish terrier Jeannie, another troublemaker, who delights in wandering off and inviting herself to the homes, parties, and picnics of other families. In “Blaze in the Sky” an English mastiff receives preferential treatment on a military plane during World War II—inciting a scandal that plunges the Roosevelt administration into crisis mode. Among the selections available only in this collection are essays defending the reputations of poodles and bloodhounds, two breeds Thurber believed were largely misunderstood and underappreciated.

This Library of America special publication also includes helpful notes and photographs of five of Thurber’s cherished canine companions.

James Thurber (1894–1961) created some thirty volumes of humor, fiction, children’s books, cartoons, and essays in just about as many years. A founding staff member of The New Yorker, Thurber wrote and illustrated such best-selling books as The Thurber Carnival and My Life and Hard Times, enduring stories like “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Catbird Seat,” and memorable drawing sequences including “The War Between Men and Women” and The Last Flower. The best of his work is collected in James Thurber: Writings & Drawings, volume #90 in the Library of America series.

This edition of Thurber’s Dogs is published with support from Sophie McManus and Mage McManus for their dearly loved mother, Deborah, and also for their grandmother, Eleanor, two women who know and knew the infinite value of dogs and a good book.

This special publication features full-cloth binding, acid-free paper, and a unique design with specifications differing from those of Library of America series titles.
Table of Contents

Foreword, with Figures
      The Hound and the Hare
1. An Introduction
2. How to Name a Dog
3. A Preface to Dogs
4. The White Rabbit Caper
5. Canines in the Cellar
      Dogs, Women and Men
6. A Snapshot of Rex
7. The Dog That Bit People
8. Josephine Has Her Day
9. The Scotty Who Knew Too Much
10. The Patient Bloodhound
      The Hound and the Hat
11. Collie in the Driveway
12. The Departure of Emma Inch
13. The Thin Red Leash
14. In Defense of Dogs, Even, After a Fashion, Jeannie
15. Look Homeward, Jeannie
16. Blaze in the Sky
      A Portfolio
17. The Monroes Find a Terminal
18. And So to Medve
19. Memorial
20. Christabel: Part One
21. Christabel: Part Two
      The Hound and the Gun
22. The Cockeyed Spaniard
23. Lo, Hear the Gentle Bloodhound!
24. A Glimpse of the Flatpaws
      The Hound and the Bug

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ISBN: 978-1-59853-856-4 311 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

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