Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Vincent Price and his Book of Joe

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I was terribly sad when I realized that I was going to be in Italy over the Vincentennial - that is, the 100th anniversary of Vincent Price's birth that happened on May 27th - because I would've loved to have done something. I contemplated getting something together beforehand, but with all my travel planning that wasn't to be. But who says the Vincentennial's stuck to one measly day? It's the whole year, dang it. So it feels right to post these images that I've been sitting on for awhile.



Price wrote a book in 1961 called The Book of Joe, that was an "autobiography" of his beloved dog. It's hard to find - I stumbled across a copy in a used book shop in South Carolina a couple of years ago - but it's a delight. Like his equally awesome cookbook, you can't help but here his distinctive voice behind every word, and it jolts even the most simple of stories with that always electric presence.The book's got several illustrations by artist Leo Hershfield in it; I glanced around the internet and saw the images don't appear to have ever made their way online, and they seemed worth sharing. Especially for the Vincentennial. Something a bit different. Click any of the images to embiggen!

3 comments:

Ms Scrappy said...

That book looks like an absolute delight, I'm jealous.

surly hack said...

He loves dogs, too. I always knew Price was a softie. My own contribution to the Vincentennial is writing a series of limericks on his filmography over at my own blog, Limerwrecks.

Teena in Toronto said...

It's being reprinted this month ... such a cute book :)