E. B. White on Dogs

by E. B. White, Martha White (Editor)

Overview

In E. B. White on Dogs, his granddaughter and manager of his literary estate, Martha White, has compiled the best and funniest of his essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White's various canine companions. Featured here are favorite essays such as "Two Letters, Both Open," where White takes on the Internal Revenue Service, and also "Bedfellows," with its "fraudulent reports" from White's ignoble old dachshund, Fred. ("I just saw an eagle go by. It was carrying a baby.") From The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" are some little-known "Notes and Comment" pieces covering dog shows, sled dog races, and the trials and tribulations of city canines, chief among them a Scottie called Daisy who was kicked out of Schrafft's, arrested, and later run down by a Yellow Cab, prompting The New Yorker to run her "Obituary." Some previously unpublished photographs from the E. B. White estate show over a dozen of the family dogs, from the first collie, to various labs, Scotties, dachshunds, terriers, half-breeds, and mutts, all well-loved.

This is a book for E. B. White fans and also for dog lovers who may not have discovered the wit, style, and compassion of this distinguished American essayist. Here are the best and funniest of his essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White's canine companions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884483410
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	03/25/2013
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	505,884
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Martha White, granddaughter of E. B. White and manager of White Literary LLC, edited the updated Letters of E. B. White (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as In the Words of E.B. White: Quotations from America’s Most Companionable of Writers (Cornell University Press, 2011). As a contributing writer and editor to Yankee Magazine’s Old Farmer’s Almanac, White wrote two weekly syndicated columns and was the author of Traditional Home Remedies (Time-Life, 1997). Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Country Journal, Down East, Early American Life, Family Circle, Garden Design, and many other publications.

Date of Birth:

July 11, 1899

Date of Death:

October 1, 1985

Place of Birth:

Mount Vernon, New York

Place of Death:

North Brooklin, Maine

Education:

B.A., Cornell University, 1921

Website:

http://www.harperchildrens.com/hch/author/author/white/

Table of Contents

Introduction: "A Chronic Perplexity" xi

A Note to the Reader xx

E. B. White: A Timeline xxiii

Dog's Life (beagle) 1

Cod-Liver Oil (Daisy) 2

Arrested for the Sins of Daisy 3

Anti-Muzzle Agitation 4

Letter [from Daisy] to Katharine S. White, 1930 5

Kicked Out of Schrafft's (Daisy) 8

Dog Around the Block (poem) 9

Interview with Daisy 10

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1931 (Daisy) 12

Obituary (Daisy) 14

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1933 (Daisy) 15

Dog Eat Dog 16

Dog Show: The Scottish Terrier 17

Letter to Alexander Woolcott, 1934 18

In the Clutches of an Irish Terrier 19

Dog Show: A New Showmanship 20

Tick-Hunting 21

The Span, the Tandem, the Four-in-Hand 21

Canine Catering Company 22

Hawthorne Hounds 23

Vogue on Dogs 25

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1936 (Tunney and Fred) 26

The Dog Has Had His Day 28

Winter Show (Sled Dogs) 32

Worms? 34

Dogs Are More Forthright 34

Letter to Charles G. Muller, 1937 (Tunney) 35

Letter to James Thurber, 1937 (Moses) 37

Fashions in Dogs (poem) 41

Letter to Gluyas Williams, 1938 43

Letter to Ik Shuman, 1938 (Zeke) 45

Letter to H. K. Rigg, 1938, (Zeke) 46

Letter to James Thurber, November 1938 (Zeke) 48

Letter to Frank Sullivan, 1938 54

A Boston Terrier 57

Letter to Clara White Wyvell, 1940 60

Letter to Joel White, 1940 61

Wartime Dachshunds (Minnie and Fred) 63

Dog Training 64

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1941 (Fred) 69

Hunting Dogs 70

Abercrombie's Dog Catalogue 76

A Week in November, 1942 (Fred) 78

Letter to Stanley Hart White, 1944 (Chloe) 85

Letter to Stanley Hart White, 1946 87

Dog Show Obedience Contest 89

Death of a Pig (Fred) 89

The Liberal View 100

Card of Thanks (poem) 103

Letter to Stanley Hart White, 1949 (Fred) 103

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1949 (Minnie) 105

Architects and Dachshunds 106

The Distant Music of the Hounds 108

Letter to H. K. Rigg, 3950 (Fred and Minnie) 110

Katharine and Andy White's Christmas Card, 1950 111

Letter to Lewis Reynolds, 1951 (Fred) 112

Two Letters, Both Open (Minnie and Fred) 112

Night Chill (Dachshunds) 118

Letter to Ursula Nordstrom, 1954 (Minnie) 120

Robbed While Walking a Dachshund 121

Bedfellows (Fred) 121

Letter to Lorlyn L. Thatcher, 1956 (Fred) 134

A Report in Spring 136

Letter to Katharine S. White, 1957 (August) 139

Dogs in Space 141

Fred on Space 141

Letter to Gardner Botsford, 1957 (August) 147

Khrushchev and I (A Study in Similarities) 149

Was Lifted by Ears as Boy, No Harm Done 156

Letter to Carol and Roger Angell, 1967 (Maggie and Jones) 158

Letter to Frank Sullivan, 1967 (Maggie) 162

Letter to Martha White, 1969 (Jones) 164

Letter to Carol Angell, 1969 (Maggie) 165

Letter to Carol Angell, 1970 (Jones and Susy) 167

Letter to Martha White, 1973 (Susy) 169

Letter to Philip Hewes, 1974 (Jones) 171

Letter to Jon and Cindy Stableford, 1978 (Jones) 172

Letter to Mrs. Susan (Lovenburg) Robinson, 1984 (Red) 173

Letter to Henry -, 1984 (Mac) 176

What People are Saying About This

Jon Katz

What a wonderful gift, to see E. B. White's writing on dogs published in one volume. White brought to dogs the same brilliant qualities he brought to his writings about life—his gentleness, perceptiveness, and rich, sometimes biting humor. He got dogs, loved them dearly, saw them clearly, wrote about them brilliantly. This is a necessary work for any dog- or animal-lover. —Jon Katz, author of the new collection of short stories, Dancing Dogs, and many other books

Claudia Kawczynska

E. B. White, dog enthusiast and keen observer, liked to opine about what made his many dogs do what they did. Predating the blogosphere by nearly a century, White's personable storytelling retains its freshness and immediacy and will charm and enlighten a new generation of dog-lovers. —Claudia Kawczynska, Editor in Chief, The Bark

Joe Coomer

Impossible to resist! —Joe Coomer, author The Loop, Pocketful of Names, Apologizing to Dogs, and other books