Sight Unseen: Rehearsal's Off! by George Booth Dedicated to Ron and Rosalie

A possibly unique copy of Rehearsal's Off! (1976) by George Booth presented this collector with the classic conundrum of buying books sight unseen: whether to purchase an inadequately-described book without the benefit of any photographs. To be sure, the bookseller's description was tantalizing: "Inscribed on FFEP with illustrations of two family cats." Who could possibly resist?

Still, there was some vagueness there. Inscribed with illustrations by whom exactly? One hopes it is the author and not a precocious child with a box of crayons. Lower down, though, the listing clearly stated "Signed by Author(s)." That was decidedly more promising. So if this is indeed a book with an original Booth illustration of two cats—"two family cats," whatever that means—then we had a pretty outstanding find for $50.

George Booth
AbeBooks listing accessed August 3, 2021

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/REHEARSALS-BOOTH.GEORGE-DODD-MEAD/30971212420/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

Condition was called "very good +" with a dust jacket that was "very good minus." That wasn't quite reassuring, but I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. Wouldn't you?

And now we come to the outcome of this little experiment, as documented with my photographs of the book in question. I'm not sure that a dust jacket with some paper loss is truly "very good minus," but the seller was certainly honest about it and that counts for a lot.

And what of those "two family cats" the book dealer mentioned? It turns out they are indeed Booth family cats rendered by George himself. So that's a win, hands down. Meow!

Note:  Sarah Booth confirms, "Those were our kitties in the 70s." The cat's names were Savortooth and Jerry, the latter used interchangeably with Jerbones or Gerry.

I will continue to use Attempted Bloggery to showcase George Booth's outstanding books when they contain special inscriptions or drawings. Scans or photographs of such rarities are welcome.

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