Description
E. P. Dutton & Company, New York. Published 1924. Hardcover, 288 pp.; 20 cm; no other printings listed.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
17
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In Good condition, no dust jacket. Blue cloth boards with gold lettering and a thin gold rule frame on the front board, gold lettering on the spine. Mild shelf wear with scattered small spotting and surface marks on both boards, some color loss along edges, and a few thin scratches with one small red mark on the rear board. Moderate fading to the spine cloth. Binding tight. Pages are uncut along the bottom edge and show some minor chipping where they were opened. Otherwise lightly toned and unmarked.The book was published anonymously; the title page bears no author attribution.[Excerpts from the book]"Yesterday I was at Terry's, drinking peach brandy with an interesting prostitute: to-day I have been playing bridge with that most respectable institution, the Beauville Bridge Club. I glory conceitedly in the facile charm which enables me to shine adequately in both circles. I have a taste for the so-called lowest, as well as for the so-called best company, and I like one about as well as the other."". . . The proletariat, having no worldly goods to be taken from them, and whose good name, consequently, is of little value, are afraid only of ghosts. And as for those darlings, the aristocrats, they are afraid of nothing but of being bored. Oh, of losing their figures perhaps. The most recherche among them are not even afraid of that."". . . There are certain seemingly irrelevant conventions which must be observed if one is to enjoy what comes in life, just as there are in a game of bridge, or in pawning something. One of the chief of these is not to look forward or anticipate. Whatever is prepared for is usually a let-down."". . . The reason I enjoyed meeting 'Mrs. Eyfilos' at Terry's was because the incident was so entirely unexpected, and so refreshing. She was like a swig of boot-leg whiskey furtively offered to a dry citizen on the way to a long sermon on a Sunday morning."[From a contemporary review, The Davenport Democrat and Leader, Davenport, Iowa, Sunday, April 13, 1924]"[The author] finds compensation for the boredom of hamlet life in hectic physical contact with these interesting young girls. Yet he commits no crimes in a statutory sense. The merit of 'Nightshade' is in the faithful catalog of the author's reactions, mental and physical, to association with young girls. The [fact that the man's] nature is grossly sensuous and his will power negligible is lost sight of in the charm and simplicity of the unpretentious style in which he writes. A further value is found in 'Nightshade' by reason of the fact that no other author, probably, has revealed the psychology and passions of high school girls so vividly. Both Tarkington's stories of youth are written without reference to sex. The libraries will probably not add this book to their shelves, but its value nevertheless transcends that of the majority of the current best sellers."