The Ralph Steadman Book Of Dogs

99 Pages·2011·17.482 MB·English

by  Ralph Steadman

houghton mifflin harcourt
boston new york
2011

2011
Copyright © by Ralph Steadman
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce
selections from this book, write to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,
215
Park Avenue South, New York, New York
10003
.
www.hmhbooks.com
2010
First published in Great Britain in by
Atlantic Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steadman, Ralph, date.
The Ralph Steadman Book of Dogs.
pages cm.
isbn 978-0-547-53425-1
1 2
. Dogs—Caricatures and cartoons. . English wit and
humor, Pictorial. I. Title.
nc1479.s79a4 2011
741.5'6942—dc22
2010042099
Printed in China
scp 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Book design by Simon McFadden

Introduction
To do another book about dogs in the wake of my three
other books about dogs is, I am aware, a trifle excessive.
Well, it would seem so but then I heard a report that there
are, at least, fifty million more dogs in the United Kingdom
alone and their owners are going to need more vital wisdom
about these faithful but stupid creatures that will help them
to sustain a sense of humour – not to mention proportion –
if they are going to treat their mutts right and give them a
half-decent life and, most importantly, see the funny side of
their every action.

The point is, I WAS going to do a book
about Ferrets, since they are, I believe,
the third most common uncaged pet on
the planet, but this was discouraged on the
grounds that the average book-buying reader
doesn’t like Ferrets and, indeed, they harbour
an aversion to the poor little critters.
The reason, I believe has something to do
with their habits of tunnelling – which
means diving through recesses between
books, making nests amongst books and
chewing the classics, particularly around the
edges – and with first editions taking priority.
So, I thought, forget Ferrets. What about
white mice? No! Same sort of problem.
Rabbits are cuddly but boring. Rats? UGH!!