The Best of Archy and Mehitabel
EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY
POCKET POETS
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This selection first published in Everyman’s Library, 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Everyman’s Library
US copyright information:
Copyright © 1927, 1930, 1933, 1935, 1950 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.
Copyright © 1923, 1924, 1925, 1934 by New York Tribune, Inc.
Copyright © 1925, 1926, 1933, 1934 by P. F. Collier and Son, Co.
Copyright © 1928, 1932, 1933 by Don Marquis
UK copyright information:
© Don Marquis. Originally published in the UK by
Faber & Faber in 1934.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. Published in the United Kingdom by Everyman’s Library, Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT. Distributed by Random House (UK) Ltd.
US website: www.randomhouse.com/everymans
eISBN: 978-0-307-82836-1
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marquis, Don, 1878–1937.
The best of Archy and Mehitabel / by Don Marquis.
p. cm.—(Everyman’s library pocket poets)
“This is a Borzoi book.”
1. Archy (Fictitious character)—Poetry. 2. Mehitabel (Fictitious character)—Poetry. 3. Cockroaches—Poetry. 4. Cats—Poetry. I. Title.
PS3525.A67A6 2011
811′.52—dc23
2011023498
Typography by Peter B. Willberg
Typeset in the UK by AccComputing, North Barrow, Somerset
Printed and bound in Germany by GGP Media GmbH, Pössneck
v3.1
contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
introduction by E. B. White
dedication
the coming of archy
mehitabel was once cleopatra
the song of mehitabel
mehitabel s extensive past
archy interviews a pharaoh
a spider and a fly
the merry flea
warty bliggens, the toad
mehitabel has an adventure
the wail of archy
mehitabel and her kittens
cheerio, my deario
the lesson of the moth
pete the parrot and shakespeare
archy confesses
the old trouper
ghosts
unjust
mehitabel meets an affinity
mehitabel sees paris
the return of archy
archy protests
CAPITALS AT LAST
the stuff of literature
quote and only man is vile quote
mehitabel s morals
cream de la cream
mehitabel tries companionate marriage
archy turns revolutionist
as it looks to archy
archy a low brow
ballade of the under side
archy wants to end it all
archygrams
the artist always pays
why the earth is round
poets
at the zoo
confessions of a glutton
literary jealousy
pete s theology
pete petitions
a radical flea
archy and the labor troubles
economic
takes talent
comforting thoughts
inspiration
a close call
immorality
archy reports
the demon rum
ancient lineage
the artist
destiny
a discussion
short course in natural history
archy protests
mehitabel sees it through
mehitabel meets her mate
mehitabel pulls a party
not any proof
statesmanship
the author s desk
what the ants are saying
introduction
BY E. B. WHITE
When the publisher asked me to write a few introductory remarks about Don Marquis for this new edition* of archy and mehitabel, he said in his letter: “The sales of this particular volume have been really astounding.”
They do not astound me. Among books of humor by American authors, there are only a handful that rest solidly on the shelf. This book about Archy and Mehitabel, hammered out at such awful cost by the bug hurling himself at the keys, is one of those books. It is funny, it is wise, it is tender, and it is tough. The sales do not astound me; only the author astounds me, for I know (or think I do) at what cost Don Marquis produced these gaudy and irreverent tales. He was the sort of poet who does not create easily; he was left unsatisfied and gloomy by what he produced; day and night he felt the juices squeezed out of him by the merciless demands of daily newspaper work; he was never quite certified by intellectuals and serious critics of belles lettres.
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