Who Cooked Mother Goose? – Dick Ashbaugh (Doubleday, 1953)

I guess you might call this an anniversary gift… I keep a wish list on Amazon for some of the books that i’m still searching for, kind of like the ebay saved searches kind of thing. But on Amazon you don’t get a message when something new on your lists are made available, or maybe you can but i haven’t been able to figure that out. So i usually check my list a couple of times a week and most of the time there is no new activity at all. There has been one copy of this, without the dust jacket, on Amazon for as long as i can remember but then a couple of weeks ago i noticed that there were now two copies available. Expecations were low since it does happen that something new is listed but then it’s usually for a totally crazy asking price. Luckily this was not the case this time as the seller was asking a quite healthy $40-50 for it.

The only other time i’ve seen this book before is on an old listing on Etsy. But on that site you can’t see what the price was once it’s sold so i have no idea if i made a good deal or not. But my gut feeling is that this is somewhat rare and also that i made a pretty good deal, at least i certainly don’t feel i got ripped off.

This arrived just a few days ago and with easter and birthdays and whatnot i’ve been busy with other things so i actually haven’t had time to check it out that much so i don’t really know what the book is about. But i think it’s something like a collection of humorous observations and stories of the authors day to day life with his wife and three daughters. I found a short review here but i’ll have to check it out more myself later…

I didn’t get to see any images of the dust jacket before i got it but the seller said it was “acceptable” but i have to say that by my standards it’s more than OK. I would assume that finding perfect copies of many of these books would be almost impossible. With the record covers i guess there are people here and there that have treated these with great care and seen them as collectors items from day one but with books… i don’t know, i just don’t think that enough people viewed them in the same way. It’s a bit beaten up here and there but nothing really major and it also has a protective plastic cover which is nice.

Written by Dick Ashbaugh (who i’ve had a little trouble finding good information on, so i assume he didn’t write any classic master pieces) and as with The Saint in Europe, The Red and the Black and The Grand Mademoiselle this was published by Doubleday in 1953. Up until now i’ve considered Borderline Ballads by William Plomer to be the rarest cover in my collection but until i learn otherwise i think this one will move in as a new number one.

To sum it up i was very, very happy to find this at a price i could afford and it’s probably the most exciting find of the year for me so far!