It All Started Here:

This is the book that started my collection. It was NOT the first book in the collection.

  If I remember correctly, it was 1971, I was traveling with my parents from Saskatchewan to Ontario to visit my Grandparents. Anyone not familiar with Canada, should know that this was a 4000 KM drive. I was in the back seat of the Jaguar, no such thing as gameboy in those years, luckily I enjoyed reading and had brought a number of books, Science fiction is my favorite, I soon finished the 2 or 3 books that were supposed to last me the trip there and back. My mother, also an avid reader had brought Rude Jokes. I heard her chuckling a number of time on the trip and asked her for the book. There wasn't a moment of boredom after that. I am sure I read almost every page out loud to my parents. I remember that even my Father, a fairly serious person (in the opinion of a 12 year old) had a number of laughs.

  After the trip, the jokes and stories I had read became a staple in the humor that I used and the jokes that were shared with friends and at parties. It wasn't until about 6 years later that I asked my mother if she still had the book, I wanted to read it again. She told me she had lent it to a radio personality in our home town and had never had it returned.

  The search was on!! I watched for the book in used book stores, I tried to request it from new book stores, I tried to get it from libraries. Not to be found.

  In 2000 I started an intensive internet search for the book. That was the beginning of my collection. I started to find other books by H. Allen Smith in the out of print book section at Barnes and Noble  . I found I could get signed first editions. No turning back now.

  I found another copy of this book advertised on the B&N web site, but I delayed a day because of the price, the next time I saw a copy, I hardly looked at the cost, I just hit the purchase button.

  This may not be the nicest book in the collection, but it is my most prized one.

Book Information:

Published only in paperback. (makes it very hard to find)
This is an unsigned copy.
© 1970 by H. Allen Smith
My copy printed December 1970. I do not know if this is the first or only printing.
A Fawcett Gold Medal Book  449-02883-095
Original price .95 cents. I paid $65.00 cdn.