Diabolical Definitions

A Selection From the Devil’s Dictionary of Ambrose Bierce

Edited by C. Merton Babcock

Illustrated by Stanley Wyatt

The Peter Pauper Press.,1970, [First Edition], two-tone illustrations in text, pictorial boards, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners gift inscription to front endpaper, price-clipped dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, some rubbing and marking to jacket (see photographs)

“Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), known as the “literary arbiter of the West Coast,” established himself in San Francisco as a scribbler following a period of distinguished service in the Civil War.  As editor, journalist, poet and story teller, he became notorious for his distilled satire, humorous diatribes, caustic wit and morbid horror tales.  While conducting a column for one of the newspapers, he conceived the idea of drafting ironical definitions of familiar words as a method of scoffing at the foibles, inconsistencies, and hypocrisies of American life and thought.”