A very scarce title and an important book for collectors of London life

Binder, Pearl ~ Odd Jobs : Stories and Drawings by Pearl Binder

George Harrap & Co.Ltd, London : 1935

The sole UK printing published by George Harrap & Co.Ltd, London in 1935. The BOOK is in Very Good++ or better condition. Light pushing at the spine ends and corners. A hint of toning and spotting the text-block. Free from reassures, bookplates and inscriptions. The WRAPPER is complete and is in Very Good++ condition. Some small losses to the spine ends and corners, more-so at the upper spine tip but not involving any lettering. A little light spotting and age related markings in places. The wrapper artwork by Pearl Binder is striking in the removable Brodart archival cover. Black-and-white illustrations, some full pages throughout. Writer, illustrator, folklorist, an artist Pearl Binder's wildly scarce book which seeks to document the London lives of 10 individual types of EastEnders. Binder builds vivid and hilarious and often irreverent portrait of ten London characters of the early 1930s. These include an ostler named Bill (a keeper of horses, usually at inns but in this case for the Tower of London) who began his work life as 'a butter slapper' ; a phrenologist, the White Chapel Bell Foundry workers (notable that there is a cause to try still to save the foundry today) ; the wax workers of Madame Tussaud's, a Bloomsbury bohemian, an antique dealer, a sex worker (assigned the name Poule de Luxe by Binder), a mixed race woman running an illegal Chinese lottery game called 'Pukka-Poo'. Parts of the book are certainly laugh-out-loud funny and the character descriptions are rich. Her portrait of 'the bohemian' describes a man named Basil who 'had learned by now to scoffr at everything except Picasso, Cocteau, and Gertrude Stein, at mention of whom he came attention as stiffly as any English colonel before the Union Jack'. 'Odd Jobs' celebrates the East End diversity, vibrancy in life and demonstrating Binder's commitment to London’s working class, but inevitably reflects stereotypes of the era. At the same time Binders artwork and words are an evocative documentation of a pre-World War II city that was soon changed forever. She dedicated the book to 'To my friends Professor Bronislaw Malinowsky and Elsie Malinowsky, These True Stories'. The daughter of a Jewish Tailor and a mother whose origins are not documented, Binder moved to London after World War 1 and studied lithography at the Central School of Art and Design. She both illustrated books for other writers who documented London life and wrote and illustrated her own. She was a great supporter of the Pearlies, the working class and women’s rights. A very good copy of an exceedingly scarce title, and an important book for collectors of London life. I can locate no other copies in commerce.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET:Very Good++