LOFTING, HUGH — Doctor Dolittle\S Circus

Jonathan Cape. 1942, Reprint. Hardcover , 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book, 320pp & just under the 500g for post. Lofting's story telling are as much a treat as his succinct line art. Doctor Dolittle's Circus has duotone prints as endpapers & one colour plate - The Doctor needs to make some money so as to pay back a sailor for a boat he borrowed and subsequently wrecked. So he and his animal friends, along with the Cat's Meat Man, Matthew Mugg, join a circus to show off the Pushmi-pullyu at six pence a pop. The circus seems to be a bit seamy in parts, especially the way the animals are treated in the menagerie. After a while, through a series of adventures, the doctor ends up running the circus himself, and all appears to end happily. Who knows, perhaps they'll even make enough money to pay back the sailor one day. Good/No Jacket.