Dr. Artz

New York City: Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1929. 1st edittion. Hardcover. pp. 378. Small 8vo. The boards of our copy have been bent across the top, causing a crease, endpapers and contents unmarked, binding strong; very good. Dust jacket is rubbed at the folds, light edge-chipping and soiling - still in quite good condition. The art deco dust jacket is signed in the plate 'T.Nadyen' (Theodore Nedejen, 1889-1974, a noted book illustrator and artist). 'The eminent Dr. Artz had two specialties. One was making old people young - if they were rich enough. The other was making love to young people - if they were pretty enough.' Robert Hichens (Robert Smythe Hichens, 1864-1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborator on successful plays'. Brian Stableford, in his book 'Yesterday's Bestsellers: A Journey Through Literary History', pp. 88-90, observes: ' In one of the more striking of his later novels, Dr.Artz (1929), Hichens (Who was then sixty-five years old) contemplates with utter horror the exploits of a scientist, based on the notorious Serge Voronoff, who proposed that virility might be restored to old men by transplanting the testicles of monkeys into their bodies to boost their testosterone levels.' See Bleiler, 'Supernatural Fiction Writers', p. 419.