WODEHOUSE, P.G.; R. Noel POCOCK (illustrator). A Prefect's Uncle.

Wodehouse on the Wicket

WODEHOUSE, P.G.; R. Noel POCOCK (illustrator). A Prefect's Uncle. London: Adam & Charles Black. 1903.

8vo. Publisher’s red pictorial cloth with titles in gold and cream to spine and upper board; pp. 264; 8 black-and-white plates by R. Noel Pocock; occasional spotting, endpapers lightly browned with c. 20-mm loss to top corner of both front and rear endpapers and neat repair to lower joint and spine; spine ends restored, corners a little bumped and rubbed; otherwise an attractive copy; contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper.

First edition, first printing of Wodehouse’s second school story, a cricket-filled tale of mischief and disruption at a fictional English public school.

When Farnie, a wayward young boy, arrives at Beckford College, he reveals himself as the uncle of the older ‘Bishop’ Gethryn, a school prefect and accomplished cricketer. Farnie’s arrival, together with that of another new boy, causes havoc around a series of important cricket matches.

Cricket was a longstanding passion of Wodehouse’s. He played for the amateur cricket team the ‘Allahakhbarries’, captained by J.M. Barrie (1860–1937), whose members also included Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927), A.A. Milne (1882–1956), and Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). His enthusiasm for the game is evident in a letter to his publisher written while working on the novel: ‘There is a great deal of cricket in the book, in fact, strictly speaking, it is nearly all cricket, for very little else except that game goes on in the Summer Term at school’ (Ratcliffe, pp. 58–59). Despite his affection for the subject, he appears to have had some reservations about the novel, adding: ‘I hope if you do not like [The Prefect’s Uncle] at first sight, you will let me revise it. I can generally improve on my work at a second attempt’ (ibid.).

McIlvaine A2a. See Ratcliffe ed., P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters (2011).

SKU: 2126299