ShrinkLits

Title: ShrinkLits
Subtitle: The One-Inch Shelf of the World's Greatest Literature
Genre: Humor
Author: Maurice Sagoff (c.1910-1998)
Illustrator: Naiad Einsel (1927-2016)
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York
Year: 1970 (First Edition)
Pages: 80
Format: Hardcover, small format with printed cover.
Provenance: Doubleday price sticker on back cover.
From the Introduction: “Too, too many books! They tumble from the presses in an endless procession, brash new titles that elbow their way onto crowded bookshelves where they vie with the classics and often succeed in shoving the oldies-but-goodies off their perch. As a result, certain novels and poems and plays that pleasured the readers of yesterday can scarcely be found on the scene today.”
Goodreads Review: “If you wanted to cut a classic book down to a short clever poem, this is it. Cleaver [sic], witty, and just plain fun to read.” — Karen, July 16, 2014.
Notes: Sagoff’s easy-to-digest condensed prose recaps of classic literature make for a cute diversion, but Einsel's artwork is what really makes this particular edition fun. Einsel started illustrating in the 1950s with her husband, Walter. By the time of ShrinkLits’ publication, Einsel had branched out on her own with an exuberant, highly ornamental style wholly appropriate for a whimsy-soaked project like this. Check out more on the Einsels at the blog Words and Eggs.