Interesting edition of 'Mike' found

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Interesting edition of 'Mike' found

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1IanFryer
syyskuu 8, 2013, 3:41 pm

Well, I thought it was interesting, anyway. On holiday in Wales a couple of weeks ago I picked up 1968 editions of Mike at Wrykin and Mike and Psmith from the children's publisher Armada.

The copyright page is worthy of repetition, if only to reveal the wordplay designed to disguise the true age of the story:

Mike at Wrykin was first published by Herbert Jenkins Ltd. in 1953 and was previously published under the title of Mike. This edition was first published in 1968 by Mayfair books...

It should be noted that Mike was first published on 15th September 1909, a fact Armada clearly wanted to keep from younger readers!

2thorold
syyskuu 8, 2013, 5:48 pm

Penguin are a bit more straightforward and mention both 1909 and 1953 on the copyright page.

3humouress
heinäkuu 14, 2018, 5:01 am

It's still one of my favourite Wodehouse's, even though it was first published when my grandad was in short pants.

4jfclark
heinäkuu 14, 2018, 8:10 pm

It’s possible that Armada wasn’t actually trying to disguise the publishing history of Mike at Wrykyn.

Mike was indeed first published in 1909. However, that novel was subsequently republished in two separate books—Enter Psmith in 1935 and Mike at Wrykyn. Each of these books represents only a part of the longer 1909 novel.

5abbottthomas
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 16, 2018, 7:17 am

>4 jfclark: According to David Jasen's A Bibliography and Reader's Guide to the First Editions of P. G. Wodehouse the last part of Mike was, as you say, published as Enter Psmith in 1935. In 1953 Herbert Jenkins revised slightly and published the first part as Mike at Wrykyn and the last part as Mike and Psmith.

ETA - looking at my copy of Mike and Psmith printed in the USA by Meredith Press and undated apart from a note of A. & C. Black's 1909 copyright I was interested to see on page ii under 'By The Same Author' simply 'Mike at Wrykyn'. Jeeves does get a mention on the back flap of the d/w but the publishers seem just as interested in PGW's plays and lyrics for musical comedies "many of which were produced in the United States". Ho hum!