I don’t remember when and where I bought every book in the Spill‘s library. But I do remember where I bought the two-fer shown here: My Life and Hard Times & The Owl In The Attic. Thurber’s UK publisher, Hamish Hamilton put it out in 1950.
I actually thought of this book on the trip north yesterday to visit Edward Koren. Driving along I saw a sign for Down In Denver Books, a store that I visited with a friend a long long time ago. My memory is that the store specialized in Beat Poetry, but it wasn’t poetry that caught my eye that day, it was the bright blue cover of the Thurber book propped up, on the floor, (and if memory serves) along a stairway — almost like a puppy in a pet store window, hoping to be taken home.
Just for a half-second wondered if I should buy the book. It wasn’t the price that made me hesitate (I think it was five bucks), it was the thought of bringing home yet another version of My Life and Hard Times. That thought flew out the second it flew in. The cover alone sold it (I love blue), and I’ve always loved the drawing on the cover. And: I’d never seen a Thurber two-fer before.
I don’t know what path the book took after leaving The Manchester Public Library (Manchester, England) after it was last checked-out in February of 1957, but I’m glad it made its way to a very visible place on a staircase in a used bookstore in upstate New York decades ago.
My Life and Hard Times was originally published in 1933 by Harper & Brothers. The Owl In The Attic was published in 1931 by Harper & Brothers.