"In
riposte to any double meaning naughty suggestion, "I beg your pardon" should
be used. "I beg your pudding" is the jocular form."
-
J.P. Donleavy from The Unexpurgated Code A Complete Manual of Survival
& Manners
Q: Some guys in my office are teaming up on a birthday gift for our boss. Problem is, he has basically everything and can afford anything. Any advice on getting something for the man?
A: It’s not about money; it’s about taste. Buy him something unusual, using your own expertise or that of a connoisseur, say a top wine merchant. How about a case of Crios, a wonderful line of wines crafted in Argentina by master winemaker Susana Balbo? Or a great book, like The Unexpurgated Code by J. P. Donleavy (1975)? It’s the funniest advice book ever written and covers many situations other etiquette books don’t, with chapters on Ass-kissing, Duels, Farting, and the Drunken Lout Loose in the Aircraft. If your boss is intelligent, he will realize that you are, too. Just don’t let the other toadies and trucklers get credit. Business is every man for himself.
September 2007
Even Donleavy himself is reluctant to categorize this book, hinting that perhaps it is still fiction. It's most often found listed as nonfiction, however. A guide to social climbing and survival in the asphalt jungle as only Donleavy could write. Not for the easily offended and wonderfully about as non-politically correct as could be. Also rife with illustrations by the author.
Donleavy has stated that he has completed notes for another book with the working title "The Unexpurgated Code of Growing Old."
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Delacorte Press, New York, August, 1975 - 304 pages - ISBN 044007794X
First US trade edition. White inside cover pastedowns.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Delacorte Press, New York, 1975 - 304 pages - ISBN 044007794X
First US book club edition. Same dust jacket outside covers as trade edition but with yellow-orange inside cover pastedowns and top of page edges. No price on inside of front dust jacket flap. Collectors, note that both the book club edition and trade edition have the same ISBN imprinted and therefore the book club edition may be unknowingly listed as a first trade edition.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Wildwood House, London, 1975 - 283 pages - ISBN 0704501929
First UK edition. Other than the slight variation in number of pages the only obvious difference between this first UK edition and the Delacorte Press US edition is the Wildwood House logo on both the dust jacket and cover spines (a boar's head reversed out in white in a black circle with the words "Wildwood House" in sans serif type beneath the logo symbol).
To purchase books by J.P. Donleavy, go to the Buyers' Guide.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Ultramarine Publishing Co., New York, 1975 - 283 pages - ISBN 999819332X
Deluxe edition with gilt edges, silk ribbon place marker & slipcover. Very scare edition. I've found only two mentions of it on the web in 10 years and neither could be traced to a copy for sale nor provided a photo.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Delacorte Press, New York, 1975 - 304 pages - ISBN 044007794X
2nd Delacorte Press printing. Same identifying markings as first trade edition.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Cloth | Delacorte Press, New York, 1976 - 304 pages - ISBN 044007794X
3rd Delacorte Press printing. Same identifying markings as first and second Delacorte editions.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Penguin, Middlesex, England, 1976 - 321 pages - ISBN 0140042822
First Penguin printing. First UK paperback edition.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Delta (Dell), New York, September, 1976 - 282 pages - ISBN 0440592291
First US paperback edition.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Delta (Dell), New York, 1976 - 282 pages - ISBN 0440592291
2nd Delta printing. Author's name and inside of blurb box on front cover now orange instead of dark brown as with first printing. (This cover faded; see 3rd. printing below).
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Delta (Dell), New York, 1977 - 282 pages - ISBN 0440592291
3th Delta printing.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Delta (Dell), New York, June, 1978 - 282 pages - ISBN 0440592291
4th Delta printing.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Dell, New York, October, 1979 - 283 pages - ISBN 0440192293
First Dell printing.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Penguin, Middlesex, England, 1979 - 321 pages - ISBN 0140042822
2nd Penguin printing.
De onverbeterlijke parvenu
Wraps | bij Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1980
Dutch translation.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Penguin, Middlesex, England, 1981 - 321 pages - ISBN 0140042822
3rd Penguin printing.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Penguin, Middlesex, England, 1985 - 321 pages - ISBN 0140042822
4th Penguin printing. Larger format than previous printings. Yellow spine rather than orange.
The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners
Wraps | Penguin, Middlesex, England, 1988 - 321 pages - ISBN 0140042822
5th Penguin printing. Orange spine.
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