The Head of Kay s -
P. G. Wodehouse
1905 - Adam &, London - First Edition
An elegantly bound 120 year old first edition of Wodehouse’s sixth novel, featuring Eckleton boys school and encapsulating Wodehouse’s writing on boarding school life, the sports, camaraderie, Latin teachers, high jinks, and jolly good adventures. Illustrated with eight black and white plates by T.M.R. Whitwell. Housed in a bespoke blue cloth slipcase.
‘It is the general view at Eckleton school that there never was such a house of slackers as Kay's. Fenn, head of house and county cricketer, does his best to impose some discipline but is continually undermined by his house-master, the meddlesome and ineffectual Mr Kay. After the Summer Concert fiasco, Mr Kay resolves to remove Fenn from office and puts his house into special measures, co-opting Kennedy, second prefect of Blackburn's, as reluctant troubleshooter with a brief to turn the place around. But without the backing of Fenn, and the whole house hostile towards him, how can he achieve the impossible ...?’ [Penguin] Provenance: Wodehouse aficionado, collector and member of the PG Wodehouse Society, John J Looijestijn, with his neat Chinese style stamp to the front free endpaper, a frequent contributor to the society’s magazine ‘Plum Lines’.
First Edition, published on October 5th, with date 1905 to title page and blank verso of title page (as opposed to the next printing in 1910 with added statement “First Published October 1905”). Not published in the United States until 1922, by Macmillan, New York.
References: The Russian Wodehouse Society. Madame Eulalie. McIlvaine A6a.
Octavo (binding size 19.2x13.1cm), pp. [12] 280 [2]. Finely bound by Spink & Thackray of Leeds in three-quarter crushed burgundy morocco over matching marbled boards, spine lettered ruled and decorated in gilt, cream endpapers. Housed in custom blue cloth slipcase. Condition: Near fine, some scattered foxing, uncut edges a little delicate, in fine binding. Ref: 112099 Price: HK$
‘It is the general view at Eckleton school that there never was such a house of slackers as Kay's. Fenn, head of house and county cricketer, does his best to impose some discipline but is continually undermined by his house-master, the meddlesome and ineffectual Mr Kay. After the Summer Concert fiasco, Mr Kay resolves to remove Fenn from office and puts his house into special measures, co-opting Kennedy, second prefect of Blackburn's, as reluctant troubleshooter with a brief to turn the place around. But without the backing of Fenn, and the whole house hostile towards him, how can he achieve the impossible ...?’ [Penguin] Provenance: Wodehouse aficionado, collector and member of the PG Wodehouse Society, John J Looijestijn, with his neat Chinese style stamp to the front free endpaper, a frequent contributor to the society’s magazine ‘Plum Lines’.
First Edition, published on October 5th, with date 1905 to title page and blank verso of title page (as opposed to the next printing in 1910 with added statement “First Published October 1905”). Not published in the United States until 1922, by Macmillan, New York.
References: The Russian Wodehouse Society. Madame Eulalie. McIlvaine A6a.
Octavo (binding size 19.2x13.1cm), pp. [12] 280 [2]. Finely bound by Spink & Thackray of Leeds in three-quarter crushed burgundy morocco over matching marbled boards, spine lettered ruled and decorated in gilt, cream endpapers. Housed in custom blue cloth slipcase. Condition: Near fine, some scattered foxing, uncut edges a little delicate, in fine binding. Ref: 112099 Price: HK$