Biltmore Oswald; The Diary of a Hapless Recruit

Richard Dorgan New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1918. Presumed first printing thus. Reprinted from The Broadside, A Journal for The Naval Reserve Force. Hardcover. Format is approximately 5 inches by 7.75 inches. viii, 87, [1] pages. Name of previous owner written in ink on fep. Decorative front and back covers. Covers worn, soiled, edges rubbed and chipped. With 31 Illustrations in Black-and-White by Richard Dorgan. Includes Dedication: To my buddies, an unscrupulous, clamorous crew of pirates, as loyal and generous a lot as ever returned a borrowed dress jumper with dirty tapes; to numerous jimmy-legs and P. O,'s whose cantankerous tempers have furnished me with much material for this book; and also to a dog, an admirable dog whom I choose to call Mr. Fogerty, with apologies to this dog if in these pages his slave has unwittingly maligned his character or in any way cast suspicion or in any way cast suspicion upon his moral integrity. James Thorne Smith, Jr. (March 27, 1892 – June 20, 1934) was an American writer of humorous fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two Topper novels, comic fantasy fiction involving sex, much drinking and ghosts. With racy illustrations, these sold in the 1930s and were equally popular in paperbacks of the 1950s. Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a Navy commodore, and attended Dartmouth College. Following hungry years in Greenwich Village, working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of Topper in 1926. Richard William Dorgan (September 24, 1892 – May 5, 1953) was an American cartoonist, writer, and illustrator. His first known published work appeared in The New York Call in 1913. A wide variety of his early work was published in The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, 1918–1920. He is remembered as the illustrator of Thorne Smith's first two novels, Biltmore Oswald (1918) and Out o' Luck (1919), as well as for his work as a columnist for Photoplay Magazine and newspaper artist in the 1920s and '30s. During World War I, Dorgan was a Seaman Second Class in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force, stationed at Pelham Bay, New York. On his World War I draft registration card (dated June 5, 1917), Dorgan reported his occupation as "Cartoonist." Biltmore Oswald is the compilation of a weekly series that Thorne Smith wrote for the Naval Journal Broadside. It's the diary of Biltmore Oswald, a hapless naval recruit, and his day to day adventures during World War I. Oswald, a naive innocent, finds himself in many a compromising situation: Showering in the hotel room of the wife of a murderous, jealous man; observing French men greeting each other with kisses, and being pursued by beautiful women, much to the displeasure of his sweetie, Polly. This, as Thorne Smith's first attempt at writing, proved to be quite successful for its time, yielding a sequel, "Out 'o' Luck." Condition: Fair.

Keywords: Richard Dorgan, Dick Dorgan, Cartoons, Illustrations, Naval Reserve Force, Pelham Bay, Fogerty, Humor, Satire, First World War, Military Service, Recruit

[Book #83136]

Price: $60.00

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