"The Abandoned Farmers" is Cobb's delightful description of his attempts to locate a country estate. According to his information, New England was filled with played-out farms that could be purchased "for a song." Prepared to sing his heart out, Cobb ventured forth only to discover that the owners were not all that eager to give up the land. With the wit and languauge that is uniquely Cobb, he tells of the acquision of a farm and his effort to establish a residence. Chock full of Cobb's matchless descriptions and puns, this book is a delight for all ages. For one short example, Cobb tells that in his efforts to dig a well, he discovered every mineral known to man (except water) beneath his land. If you know a way to get the finest New York marble available up out of a 6 inch diameter hole, I know a place we can do it.

I picked up a copy of "Roughing It De Luxe" by Irvin S. Cobb, quite by mistake. I had never heard of this book nor Mr. Cobb as an author. But I quickly found I could not put it down! Mr. Cobb's accounts of traveling out west, first to Arizona and the Grand Canyon and then on to San Diego, Tia Juana, Los Angeles, San Francisco and finally on through Utah and Colorado are not only very humorus but as timely as if they were written today, instead of 1913, when the book was first published. Anyone wanting to read a very light hearted account of an Easterner's travels in the West at the turn of the last century (or anyone having ever lived in the West) will find this well worth the time spent to read. I plan to find and ready more of Mr. Cobb's works.