The Book of Jones: A Tribute to the Mercurial, Manic, and Utterly Seductive Cat by Ralph Steadman
8vo. pp. 80. b/w illustrations. hardcover. dw. (near fine - some light signs of shelf-wear to lower corners, top of text block bit spotted). New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, [1997].
First U.S. Edition.
ISBN-10: 0151003092/ ISBN-13: 9780151003099
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Once upon a time, Ralph Steadman visited his friend Hunter S. Thompson at Owl Farm, his mountain home high above Aspen, Colorado. There he made the acquaintance of a certain cat named Jones. Jones was the master of all he surveyed. When he wanted something from a human, he invariably got it; the rest of the time he was serenely unavailable. And Jones was mercurial even by the standards of Hunter S. Thompson (with whom he shared mutual respect and nocturnal habits): "Both made demands and were locked into worlds reserved for selfish gods". One minute Jones was disarmingly placid and fluffy, the next a claw-wielding terror. No one who knew Jones - not Steadman, not Thompson, not even the late and great John Belushi - was any match for his wiles. In short, Jones was extremely catlike. His anarchic sense of fun mirrored Steadman's own and led to the creation of this irresistibly playful tale that will enchant humans the world over.