April Fools, Lengthy Inscription by Compton Mackenzie
[Signed Presentation by Compton Mackenzie] Mackenzie, Compton. April Fools: A Comedy of Bad Manners. First American Edition. 1930. Book and dust jacket are both in good plus condition—page edges show light soiling, pages show mild discoloration due to age; jacket shows light fraying, mild soiling, and a chip to the spine. In the inscription, Mackenzie notes an error in the book related to book’s dedicatee, Raymond Savage. The inscription reads, “For Herbert M. Meyer, This book was really dedicated to P.G. Wodehouse, but by a mistake of my American publishers the above dedication has been inserted. I don’t even know Raymond Savage! Compton Mackenzie … August 20, 1930.” Laid in is a slip indicating that this was a review copy on which the book’s recipient has scrawled notes about the book.
Why do some comic novels remain fresh long after the society that produced them has disappeared? Usually because their authors understood the utter ridiculousness of the human ego and the self-deception it inspires. Compton Mackenzie was such an author. Best remembered today for works such as Sylvia Scarlett, he understood the absurdity of his characters, but intriguingly, he was also kind to them. Their avarice, vanity, and laziness rarely prevent them from being fundamentally likable—a quality on full display in this sequel to Rich Relatives. The present copy is made all the more appealing by Mackenzie’s inscription, which points out an error introduced by his American publisher. The book was intended to be dedicated to P. G. Wodehouse but was instead dedicated to Raymond Savage, whom Mackenzie cheerfully admits he had never even met. Who better than Compton Mackenzie to appreciate such an absurdity?
“He was a hypochondriac, and when he began to talk about his nerves his wife knew it was time to stop grumbling at him, because he was capable of talking doggedly for half an hour about his symptoms when she implied the least criticism of his laziness.”
--Compton Mackenzie