A GENTLEMAN OF LEISURE

London: Herbert Jenkins, 1940. Reprint Edition. Cardboard covers. Very Good +/Very Good. Small 8vo, red cloth with "A Gentleman of Leisure" in black type on the cover and spine, Mylar-protected pictorial dust jacket with Jimmy Pitt on his knees facing a bulldog, 256 pages. VERY SCARCE in this VG+ condition and with the RARE orange dj with cartoon figures. (The original dj was white; the first edition of this very popular, humorous tale was published by Alston Rivers in the UK & Watt in the US during 1910). Bookplate on front pastedown. Jasen 13: records the first editions. "How Jimmy Pitt [a character from "Raffles"] bet he would commit a burglary and what came of it."--jacket. Sir P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse KBE (1881 - 1975) was an English author who was one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular and amusing characters. They include jolly gentleman of leisure, Bertie Wooster, and his sagacious valet Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner.--Wiki A one inch piece of Scotch tape has nearly successfully tried to close a clean tear along the lower margin of the dj. 15th printing, around the 1940's.