WODEHOUSE, P.G. Laughing Gas.

An Englishman in Hollywood

WODEHOUSE, P.G. Laughing Gas. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company. 1936.

8vo. Publisher’s orange cloth, lettered and decorated in black to upper board, bottom- and fore-edge untrimmed, top-edge red, illustrated dust-jacket by ‘Roese’ priced at $2.00 to front flap and publisher’s codes ‘601–36’ and ‘2311–36’ to front flap and back panel respectively as called for by McIlvaine; pp. [6], 303, [3 (blank)]; front flap of jacket detached, three tape repairs to verso of jacket, chipping to edges, but the illustration remains bright, pushing to spine ends with some fraying to cloth, some scuffing to cloth; very good in a fair jacket.

First edition in book form, first printing of this comic novel set amid the glamour and chaos of the film industry.

Reggie Swithin is dispatched to Hollywood on the delicate task of retrieving Aunty Clara’s wayward son, Eggy, who has once again found himself in trouble. Reggie’s efforts plunge him into the colourful and unpredictable world of early 1930s Hollywood.

The novel was initially serialised in This Week in the US between 24 March and 28 April 1935, and in the UK in Pearson’s Magazine between August and October 1935. The first edition in book form was published in the UK on 25 September 1936 and was followed by the US edition on 19 November 1936.

Mcllvaine A56b.

SKU: 2126245