Uncle Snowball

New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc.. Very Good in Fair dj. (c.1940). First Edition. Hardcover. (price-clipped) [partial exposure of webbing at front hinge but still a decent, well-bound book; light shelfwear and a bit of soiling to bottom edge, slight bumping at several corners; jacket is heavily edgeworn, internally tape-repaired at top of spine, light soiling and creasing to rear panel]. The chroncile of a year on the New England farm of William and Nancy Hayward and their nine children, plus "that lovable and kindly old sinner, Uncle Snowball," not a blood relative but an old geezer who has been "adopted" by the family: "A blizzard swooped down one day and literally blew Uncle Snowball into the Hayward front door -- and there he stayed." Uncle Snowball appears to be quite the fabulist, brimming over with stories and songs; he also drinks, swears, and has no respect for conventional amenities -- the Wacky Uncle Who Came to Dinner, essentially. (There's also a Grandma in residence, who doesn't think much of Uncle Snowball and his ways.) .