The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks: Comprising the Diary, the Table Talk and a Garland of Miscellanea by Samuel Marchbanks....

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Samuel Marchbanks, alter ego of Robertson Davies, is without a doubt the best-loved curmudgeon in Canada, if not indeed the world. He has been so since The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks first burst upon the literary scene as long ago as 1947, when the perils of furnace-stoking and the squalor of Ontario beverage rooms were present ills, rather than old, unhappy, far-off things. The present volume, The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, consists of material selected from The Diary, The Tabletalk, and The Almanac, with additional notes and material by Marchbanks’ “long-suffering friend, Robertson Davies.” This is a princely work, to be savored, read, and re-read — as satisfying as a brandied pudding, with the full-bodied flavour of a rich language in the loving care of a master. It is only fitting that this splendid orgy for the bibliophile be served up in style, even to the crimson ribbon marker provided. Dull would he be of soul who would turn down a page inscribed with the wit and wisdom of the Lord of Marchbanks Towers. Time and change may affect lesser beings, but Samuel Marchbanks proclaims himself “…quite ready to go on being my curmudgeonly, reclusive, grudge-bearing, suspicious happy self.”