The Air at the Top of the Bottle

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Captain Cap, Volume 2

March 31st, 2013 · 2 Comments

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Today is April 1, a day sanctified by the extraordinary French humorist Alphonse Allais; and I am happy to announce that it brings the release of Captain Cap, Volume 2.

Allais’s stories of his absurd anti-hero, first published in 1902, have been meticulously translated and illustrated by Doug Skinner, in the second volume of a set of four.  This volume contains 15 stories and 17 illustrations, and is published in an edition of 125 by Black Scat Books.

The first volume recorded the real life Cap, Albert Caperon, and his tumultuous foray into politics.  The second is devoted to his fictional exploits, as he boasts of his dubious accomplishments, insults his friends, bullies bartenders, and consumes many elaborate cocktails.  You’ll learn the disgusting history of Meat-Land, the origin of polar bears, Cap’s plans for interstellar communication and recycled confetti, his unconvincing experiments with hypnotism, and, of course, all about the apparent symbiosis between the boa and giraffe.

Buy a copy today!  Memorize passages!  Color in the pictures!  And if you see me, I’ll be glad to sign it with the name of your choice.  You can order it from Black Scat Books.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)

Tags: Alphonse Allais · Cartoons · Literature

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Win // Apr 5, 2013 at 3:00 am

    Disgraceful. It’s one thing to release boas into the Florida everglades, but to set one free in Africa…well, I am shocked, Sir, shocked!

    Oh, and why is it 14? Was this merely an underhanded trick to cause anxiety among collectors of these rare texts or have there already been 13 iterations that we foolish devotees have missed?

    (Yes, I may have broken savagely into Cap’s golf cart of embrocations, but I can’t help admiring the wonderful crystalline pigmenta that decorate the giraffe’s derma on this cover. No wonder the boa is gazing up with an envious expression.)

  • 2 Doug // Apr 5, 2013 at 7:52 am

    Boas in Niger are child’s play to the Captain; he has gone whaling in some of the smallest rivers in France.

    This is the second volume devoted to Cap, but the fourteenth in Black Scat Books’ series of “Absurdist Texts and Documents.” Nothing prevents you from stocking up!