Double-page spread at the beginning of the Jeeves section
We are pleased to report that What Ho! The Best of P.G. Wodehouse, previously advertised in these pages, has hit the bookshelves at last. As you will recall, this is the anthology conceived by Dan and Susan Cohen and put together by Tony Ring and the International Wodehouse Association to commemorate Wodehouse in the new millennium. Selections in the book, which is published by Hutchinson/Random House Ltd. UK, include those short stories, passages from the novels, poems, lyrics, essays, and other material deemed to be among Plum's best by Wodehouse readers around the world, as per a poll of Wodehouse Society members in several countries. Enjoyment of the book is made more so thanks to a magnificent introduction written by Stephen Fry.
While no one book can ever encompass everybody's favorites, this one comes awfully close. It is a pippin of a tome, as those who have already received their copies can attest. Stu Shiffman wrote to PGW-Net: "This will be the logical alternative to The Most of P. G. Wodehouse or The Week-end Wodehouse for the place of honor on guestroom night-tables, bathroom reading shelves, or indeed any room of the house. It is also eminently suitable for lending to new prospects (always supposing that one could get it back once again--how often has this happened to you when you press books on friends and it disappears into eldritch corners of his or her homestead?)." And Dan Cohen noted: "It is the one Wodehouse book to be stranded with on a desert island or given to a friend who has never read Wodehouse before. We are trying to figure out a way of getting an American edition which will make it much easier to obtain in this country."
And therein lies the rub. At the present time, the book is available only in the U.K. Those who have not yet ordered it can do so via the www.amazon.co.uk web site. For those who prefer the more conventional method of ordering but have lost their copies of the flyer that was included with a previous Plum Lines, you may obtain it by writing or calling Auntie (see masthead for address). Delay no longer--order your copy of What Ho! today! --AD and OM
Double-page spread at the beginning of the Jeeves section