Some years ago, I found a cryptic reference in "The Published Drawings of Sidney Sime," a bibliography by Geoffrey Beare and Martin Steenson, to a cheap edition of The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston that supposedly has a color dust-wrapper design by Sime. This edition was reportedly published by Blackwood, ca. 1916, and it was "subsequently issued with the dust-wrapper design in black and white."
J[oseph] Storer Clouston (1870-1944) was a prolific Scottish author. The Lunatic at Large was originally published in 1899. A recent edition was published by McSweeney's in 2007. The publisher's blurb describes the book as follows:
McSweeney's is pleased to announce the return of a much-loved Victorian comic masterpiece—the anarchic novel that ushered in the age of Wodehouse and Waugh. Meet Francis Beveridge, the newest resident of Clankwood, home of "the best-bred lunatics in England." At least, Beveridge seems to be his name, as it's the one sewn into all his clothes. But rather than attending his asylum's Saturday dances, Beveridge prefers to go on the lam in London, attendants in red-faced pursuit. So when the traveling German noble Baron Rudolf von Blitzenberg finds himself at the luxurious Hotel Mayonnaise without a guide to this strange land's customs, who better than the amnesiac Englishman who materializes by his side—a splendid tutor in bringing rail stations to a standstill, the best way to fake a rabies attack, and how to crash London's most exclusive clubs, quite literally.
It hardly sounds like a book that Sime would have been chosen to illustrate (or to have chosen himself). And though I have observed a number of editions, none of the covers looked at all like they might have been by Sime. Until now. Here is a black-and-white dust-wrapper, apparently from the 1910s and published by Blackwood. Could this be by Sime? Maybe. Something about the figures seem Sime-like, but I'm not entirely convinced. Thoughts?
Hard to tell but the woman's hair is drawn in a way that resembles Sime's drawings... Perhaps a quick sketch done for a few bob!
ReplyDeleteThanks. There is something, too, about the broad shouldered figures that seem Sime-ian.
ReplyDeleteWhen compared to other non-fantastical works by Sime you can see similarities. Like this one: https://pixels.com/featured/about-time-as-come-home-sidney-herbert.html
ReplyDeleteIndeed, yes! Thanks Sean.
Delete'The Lunatic at Large' (and its several sequels) was a favourite book in our family in my youth - it had been reprinted in The Bow Street Library edited by Hugh Greene. It's a high-spirited comic chase thriller, vivid and inventive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Doug, that the figures on the dust-wrapper do have a touch of Sime about them, and even the trees in the background too.
Thanks, Mark. Agreed. I hope someday we'll see the color version.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a piece about The Lunatic at Large and its first sequel, Count Bunker, earlier this year or sometime last. Both are delightful comic novels. But while my copies were firsts, both lacked dust jackets, so I'm no real help on the Sime question. But, as others have said, there does seem to be a Sime-like touch to the Blackwood illustration.--md
ReplyDeleteCertainly, the man's facial features and slim gloved hands resemble Sime's work.
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