Author: GIBSON, Charles Dana
Title: Education of Mr. Pipp
Description: 1899. GIBSON, Charles Dana. THE EDUCATION OF MR. PIPP. New York: R. H. Russell, 1899. Illustrated throughout with b&w drawings by Gibson. Unpaginated, but [79] pp. pp. 11 1/2" x 17 1/2". Oblong folio, white cloth spine, buff paper boards with bevelled edges, illustration and title printed to upper board, t.e.g. A fine copy in the publisher's box, imprinted with the title and an illustration on the lid. The lid has a shallow tide line along the bottom edge of the top panel, as well as some loss and tears to its narrow side panels; nonetheless, it is an uncommon survivor. Laid-in, at the bottom of the box, is a one-page illustrated article, "How Charles Dana Gibson Started," taken from The Ladies Home Journal for October 1902. THE EDUCATION OF MR PIPP is the fourth in a series of uniformly bound collections of drawings by Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) as he neared the height of his popularity. In this series the successful and diminutive, but much-put-upon, Mr. Pipp agrees to take his wife and their two statuesque daughters, immediately recognizable as "Gibson Girls," on a Grand Tour of Europe. A gentle social comedy unfolds as Mr Pipp and family travel to London, Paris, the Riviera, Italy, Monte Carlo and back again. Along the way they shop, go to the opera, stroll and hike, make new friends, both opportunistic and true, fall prey to a jewel thief, attend embassy parties, dance, buy more jewels, are presented at the Court of St James, play croquet, go to the races, etc. etc. While Mr Pipp struggles to keep up and adapt to the changing social scenes, his glamorous daughters glide serenely along, drawing admiring glances from one and all in their wake, and conquering the hearts of two young gentlemen. Poor Mr Pipp never saw it coming! In 1905, Gibson and Augustus Thomas turned THE EDUCATION OF MR PIPP into a Broadway comedy, which was adapted for film in 1914. Both starred Digby Bell as Mr Pipp. .

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