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First Edition ( 'First published in 1958' ). Signed and inscribed to (once again) 'Philip & Frances with love from Denys, 1958.' Once again because I have several other of Denys Parsons' books for sale that are signed and inscribed to Philip and Frances. True. You can see the covers of the book in the photos. There is a very light bit of spotting on the front just adjacent to the spine. The red lettering on the spine is bright. The edges and corners are in solid shape. The spine has a forward lean, particularly at its top. That may be why the rear cover bows out a little bit. However, the book is decently bound. I'm not seeing any cracks or spaces between any of the facing pages or between the covers and any of the pages. The inside covers and end papers, including the signed page, have a good amount of foxing or spotting, but it does not carry over to the actual pages. The pages don't have any. There is a very small tan spot on the middle page edge and you can see a speck of it on the edge of only a few pages. Otherwise the pages are quite clean with just a few inconspicuous spots. The pages appear to be free of any creasing. There is a teeny tiny nick to the bottom edge of a couple of pages, nothing much of anything. There are no markings. No attachments. And with the exception of the author's signed inscription, no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in the book. You can see the dust jacket in the first few photos. It's in pretty decent shape. There is a couple small spots on the front cover, there are several wisps of soiling on the rear cover. There is a thin tear coming up a bit from the bottom edge at the juncture between the front cover and spine. There are a few tiny losses at both spine ends and at the corners, none are large. The flaps are in quite solid condition, just a little toning at their top and bottom edges. The jacket is NOT price-clipped, not clipped at all. It will be fitted with a protective cover after the photos are scanned. From the dust jacket: 'As in Denys Parsons' earlier collections of misprints, howlers and literary faux pas, the operative word here is TRUE. Neither the over-hurried compositor nor the over-harried sub- editor or publicist has time to lie-- so "truth will out". Consider for instance the classic George Washington quality of the menu's "half fresh lobster.4s.", The radio paper's "Old German dances on the harpsichord", the library's notice "low conversation allowed", or the offer by some splendidly astute bookseller of "anatomy and Cleopatra.18s.6d." All too often tacked gags the rest of us, but Parsons' pleasure is to follow where error leads, gathering unconsidered trufles wherever more haste has produced less heed. And what a range he covers, from the epic simplicity of "the firemen are still playing horses on the smoldering debris" to the almost Freudian cri-de-coeur, "hot water engineer, well up copper pipe, desires change". As Denys Parsons himself so modestly puts it, " Shrdlu n humor is better than ordinary humor". Where else could the tragic statement, "she cried out in agony--" possibly take such a happy turn as "-- and at that instant she heard a horse whisper behind her"? The answer, of course, is nowhere else-- except in his four previous books, True to Type, All Too True, Can It Be True? And It Must Be True.'. Seller Inventory # 003969
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Many A True Word (Only Signed Copy)
Publisher: McDonald, London
Publication Date: 1958
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: Drawings by Anton
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Good
Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
Edition: 1st Edition
