The first is Leonid Tsypkin's novel about Dostoevsky on a gambling binge, Summer in Baden-Baden, a book I really, really wanted to like but had a great deal of trouble getting into.
The second is the new Vintage Classics editions of Somerset Maugham's thoroughly entertaining and faintly mad The Magician, a science-fantasy riff on the life of self-proclaimed "wickedest man alive" and proclaimed-by-me "tedious wanker" Aleister Crowley.
The original is a Pernot ad by Leonetto Cappiello.
Mysteriously, the Penguin Tsypkin cover has removed the label from the bottle.
There's more on Cappiello and absinthe in an earlier post, here.
UPDATE: Now we're seeing triple...
Thanks for the tip on Asylum, a very good book review site for sure. The removal of the label on the Penguin edition is most likely due to the very eager (and paranoid) rights dept who probably thought that showing the label could bring them a lawsuit. The link to Leonetto Cappieloo is very interesting. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAh, of course: I hadn't thought of it (the removing of the label) being a legal issue. Bizarre but no doubt true. Asylum's great: I've found out about a lot of great books through John Self's reviews.
ReplyDeletethanks . . .
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! The absinthe's on me.
ReplyDelete