The Life of the Party (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) (Paperback, illustrated edition)

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (1876-1944) was an American author, humourist, and columnist who lived in New York and wrote over 60 books and 300 short stories. When he was 16, his grandfather died and his father became an alcoholic, so he was forced to quit school and find work, thus beginning his writing career. He started in journalism on the Paducah Daily News at age seventeen, becoming the nation's youngest news managing editor there at nineteen. He later worked at the Louisville Evening Post for a year and a half. He covered World War I for the Saturday Evening Post, and wrote a book in 1915 about his experiences called Paths of Glory. He also wrote short stories in a horror vein, such as Fishhead (1911) and The Unbroken Chain (1923). Several of Cobb's stories were made into silent films, and he wrote titles for a couple more, including the Jackie Coogan vehicle Peck's Bad Boy (1921). Other works include Cobb's Anatomy (1912), Europe Revised (1914), Speaking of Operations (1916), One Third Off (1921), and A Plea for Old Cap Collier (1921).