First edition of The Deb’s Dictionary by Oliver Herford (1931).
The Deb’s Dictionary (SOLD) is a charming satire of flapper life by Oliver Herford, the author of Sea Legs, a similar book recently featured in this blog. “Deb” was a 1920s slang term for “debutante”, and Herford’s dictionary skewers the pretensions and behavior of young upper-class men and women and the popular culture of the Jazz Age. Herford illustrated The Deb’s Dictionary himself, and the book is now uncommon in the colourful dust jacket that he designed.
Below, a selection of illustrated terms from the dictionary.
For another humorous dictionary see “The Original Slang Dictionary: Francis Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” (SOLD)
Ambidextrous: Not letting your right hand know who is holding your left hand.
Beach: (Baileys) A place where the knee-plus-ultra of Society have their legs photographed for the Sunday papers.
Bloomers: A conspicuous item of feminine apparel. See also underskirt.
Chivalry: The High Resolve of every man to protect every woman against every other man.
Cinder: A mythical substance that gets into a Deb’s eye in a Pullman car and can only be removed with male assistance.
Cocktail: Prohibition’s most notable contribution to the Sophistication of America’s boys and girls.
Coyness: Provocative modesty. Go away closer. Pull it down higher.
Duel: The highest compliment possible for two men to pay one woman.
Heart: The organic ticker that registers the flurries and fluctuations of emotion in Love’s Stock Exchange.
Joint: A get-together place. A knee-joint. An elbow-joint. An uptown joint.
Melody: The Bogey of modern music.
Modesty: The gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.
Rag: A bit of gladsome chiffon doing its best to stick around a frisky sub-deb at a fraternity dance.
Television: An invention to prevent fibbing on the telephone.
This utterly charming little book was placed on my desk by a colleague who knows about my secret desire to be a flapper. Published in 1931 after originally appearing in the periodical The Delineator, Sea Legs was written by the American poet and illustrator Oliver Herford (1863–1935), a prolific magazine contributor best remembered for his humorous books The Rubíáyát of a Persian Kitten and The Little Book of Bores. He was also famed for his bon mots, and Google reveals that almost everyone believes he was described as “the American Oscar Wilde”, though no one seems to know by whom (and, even if true, he wasn’t the only one – Mark Twain was also saddled with the title). Nevertheless, he was a truly talented humorist and illustrator, with The New York Sun arguing that “There is no one else quite as funny as he is and probably never will be”.
Sea Legs is a satirical alphabet book, relating the delights and annoyances of voyages in the era when traveling between Europe and North America meant spending at least a week at sea, a social event with the opportunity to become intimate, for better or worse, with fellow passengers and crew. Herford’s illustrations of flappers caught in a myriad of titillating shipboard situations are a delight. I’ve included a good selection below, and strongly encourage you to explore the above links to Persian Kitten and Book of Bores. A rare title, this copy includes the dust jacket and a very attractive folding case that reproduces the cover image (see the final picture).
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