Enter Psmith

New York: A. L. Burt Company, 1939. Hardback American edition. No date is given but scholarly research seems agreed on 1939. VG/G. Not price clipped. No inscriptions. The DW has had some nicks repaired by sellotape on the reverse, but is otherwise intact and in surprisingly good condition for a book of this vintage. The DW cover illustration by Anderson is a double-sided work of art very much in the appropriate style for a Wodehouse book from the 1930s. The book itself in pale blue cloth is in excellent condition apart from a slight bumping at the base of the spine. The story has an interesting provenance in that it first appeared in the early Wodehouse book 'Mike' published in 1909. The second half of that book, which does in fact fall neatly into two halves with the move of Mike from one boarding school to another, explains that move and soon heralds the first ever appearance of Psmith who in typical fashion dominates the book from then on in his usual hilarious manner. When the character of Psmith became increasingly popular, it was recognised that this second half of 'Mike' could be published as a complete book in itself. Hence re- 'Enter Psmith' in the 1930s. Perhaps even more interestingly, Evelyn Waugh has found many supporters in his assertion that it is the entry of the character Psmith into this book that marks precisely the crucial transition of Wodehouse from a writer of conventional school stories into the master humorist: "Psmith appears and the light is kindled which has burned with growing brilliance for half a century." .