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Posted By: Max Weder

I'm not that funny Barry. I only managed to watch one season of Seinfeld before it drove me into nothingness (and not watching it)

Zanzibar is Mr. Lardner's first published work in book form



gently offered at $15,000 on the internet

Ring Lardner -- 1st Edition 1st Printing -- FINE/NONE -- copy of Zanzibar: A Comic Opera in Two Acts. 8vo. Unpaginated, [28] pp. "Book by Harry Schmidt. Lyrics and Music by Ring Lardner." This fine copy is bound in the original gray paper wraps, lettered in gilt on the front wrap, and sewn with a single thin, red cord - a perfect match with Bruccoli and Layman's copy. Ring Lardner (March 6, 1885 - September 25, 1933) was born the youngest of nine children to the wealthiest couple in Niles, Michigan; he enjoyed his family's own baseball field, tennis court, and stable of horses - all surrounded by several acres of land. After years of homeschooling from his mother, Lena, and a private tutor, Lardner attended Niles High School from 1897-1901, where he began his career in song as a member of a quartet. He embarked on his literary career soon after, composing the class poem for his graduating class of 1901 - when he was only 16 years old. This poem, which found its way into the Niles Daily Star on June 14, 1901, was the young writer's first published work. With a high school diploma up his sleeve, Lardner moved to Chicago after graduation; giving up his job as an office lackey, though, he returned to Niles before the end of 1901. Even so, Lardner returned to Chicago in 1902 to enroll in the Armour Institute's engineering program. Unfortunately, he failed his classes, was kicked out of school, and once again returned to Niles in 1903. During this time, while we was performing trivial jobs for the Niles Gas Company and was only 18 years old, Lardner began working with the Niles American Minstrels. The comic opera "Zanzibar" was the resulting product. This two-act, heartwarming farce was performed at the Niles Opera House on April 14, 1903. In addition to composing the lyrics and music, Lardner played the role of Shylock - the young man who assumes the throne after being mistaken for the Sultan. Fred D. Cook, who was at that time the editor of the Niles Daily Star and sometimes performed small printing jobs on the newspaper's presses, published this comic opera, making "Zanzibar" Lardner's second piece of published work and his very first work to be published in book form. Lardner wouldn't publish anything else until four of his songs came off the press in 1910, the first being "Little Puff of Smoke, Goodnight". Lardner's second book wouldn't be published until March 3, 1914, when he and Edward Heeman collaborated on "The Home Coming" - a private publication that was not issued for sale. Though Lardner had been routinely contributing to "The Saturday Evening Post" since March 7, 1914, not until July 10, 1915, when "Bib Ballads" hit stores, did Lardner finally see his first regularly published book. Considering the small scale of Fred D. Cook's print jobs (having enough machinery for a town of only 4,000 people), it is safe to assume that the print run for "Zanzibar" was extremely small. According to Bruccoli and Layman, there is only one known copy: the personal copy of Ring W. Lardner, Jr., which they used to complete their bibliography. Needless to say, this book is exceedingly rare. This wonderful copy, purchased from Michigan bookman Don Allen over 30 years ago, has since remained in the possession of a private collector. Aside from some very light and scattered foxing, this book is in perfect condition - even better than the copy photographed for Bruccoli and Layman's bibliography. (Bruccoli & Layman A 1) Published by: Fred D. Cook, 1903. Bookseller