Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo, by P.G. Wodehouse

On a recent trip to Canada, I picked up Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo, a beautifully packaged little collection of P.G. Wodehouse stories from Arrow Books, who blithely describe it as "A Wodehouse Pick-Me-Up!". Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo consists of three short stories: two Mulliner tales, including the title story (about a meek curate who turns into an ass-kicking, name-taking problem solver under the influence of his scientist uncle's untested health tonic) and "Strychnine in the Soup" (about a troubled courtship between obsessive mystery fans), and a Bertie-Wooster-is-an-idiot story entitled "The Spot of Art". There are no essays, notes, or additional materials—literally all of the edition-specific value comes from the book's letterpress-style cover design.

Look, I am a sucker for P.G. Wodehouse. I own more than a dozen collections of his work, and I don't even mind the fact that most of them are just slightly re-ordered versions of the same material. But this particular edition is really pushing it—you can get all of these stories elsewhere, and in literally dozens of cheaper formats. Go and ahead and buy Mulliner's Buck-You-Uppo if your money and shelf space are unlimited, but please be aware that you are acquiring your Wodehouse short stories in the most expensive and inefficient way possible.