David Pearce's Copy of Drinks Before Dinner by E. L. Doctorow

David from Manhattan brings us up to date on another book from the library of the late David Pearce, M.D., an ophthalmologist whose wonderful books we have had a number of occasions to view on the blog. He found this one in a Manhattan bookstore for $25. David writes:

Pearce appears to have had E. L. Doctorow and a drooping eyelid as a patient. I own a copy of "Drinks Before Dinner" inscribed in 1980, "To David Pearce, from his ptosic author E.L. Doctorow." Doctorow's knowledge was always impressive, but I'm guessing he inadvertently merged "ptotic" and "ptosis" to come up with a plausible substitute.

The cover of "Drinks Before Dinner" I downloaded from on-line. The inscription is on a tan paper, not a result of my phone. The cover is a 1978 painting by Paul Davis. The play came out in Nov. '78, the book was published the following year. Mike Nichols director, Joseph Papp producer, Christopher Plummer the lead. An impressive list, but reviews were mixed. Doctorow was a brilliant novelist, but this is his only play.

Book cover by Paul Davis

That would be Doctorow's right eyelid (his right, your left) that is droopy and thereby demonstrates ptosis, making it, correctly speaking, ptotic (and not, as Doctorow reasonably but erroneously surmised, "ptosic"):

Note:  Did E. L. Doctorow come into this world as a forceps delivery? Just asking.

My sincere thanks to David from Manhattan for this, his forty-eighth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Several of his previous contributions were also from the library of the esteemed Dr. Pearce. Thanks to him also for educating me in the adjectival form of ptosis, something that had previously eluded my attention.

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