Meet Mr Mulliner / Mulliner Nights

Wodehouse wrote to his friend William Townend on 30 June 1945: "God may have forgiven Herbert Jenkins for the jacket to Meet Mr Mulliner, but I never shall." (quoted in Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: a Life [Penguin, 2005], page 352)

This is the first edition cover of Meet Mr Mulliner (1927), the image that fired his wrath (image stolen from the Internet):

Well, there's one obvious feature which might easily have made him wince: the arrow pointing directly at Mr Mulliner's groin shows, at the very least, a lack of concern in detail. But I'd also argue that the general principle of portraying Mr Mulliner as a hearty, hail-fellow-well-met sort of a geezer with a revoltingly jovial manner was off the mark.

This is the start of the first Mulliner story, in which the narrator of these tall tales is introduced (and let me mention in passing, in case I forget later on, that the type in this Penguin edition is Monotype Garamond):

I will frankly admit there is nothing in this description which directly contradicts the picture of the ghastly outsider portrayed on the Jenkins cover; but all the same, and especially bearing in mind the general impression of a man with a quiet but compelling manner which comes out through the stories, I picture Mr Mulliner in very different terms. Even the passage above contrasts his manner with that of the stereotypical boastful fisherman.

It may, of course, be that Ionicus's cover has coloured my view. It is, in my opinion, one of his very best. It appears to date from 1976. Here it is.

Here he is, then, a mild man of middle-age, dully respectable, just the man to tell the tallest tales in the world. The man seated on the right is just correct for the "I" who passes through the Angler's Rest to absorb the latest doings of the Mulliner clan. Ionicus, always at his best with furniture and other interior trappings, is in his element, and the mounted fish on the wall are an excellent touch. The colours are carefully chosen; the atmosphere of woody and rather fuggy cosiness can almost be smelt.

I've written previously about the importance of a good cover, and I don't want to labour the point. Wodehouse was one of the greats, and he deserved to be treated well. That is all.

There are three dedicated collections of Mulliner stories, but the second, Mr Mulliner Speaking, has never appeared in Penguin at all and so was never illustrated by Ionicus. Here, however, is the third, Mulliner Nights (1933), with a cover probably created in 1971;

As those familiar with the stories in this volume will realise, the scene portrayed is that of Adrian Mulliner, the detective, attempting to smile pleasantly at a Baronet, and only succeeding in creating an impression of sardonic superiority which prods the Bart's tender conscience, with startling consequences. The image is not as beautiful as that of Meet Mr Mulliner, but it has its points. Ionicus, it will be noticed by those comparing the different covers, varied the techniques used, and here he employs an unusual means to suggest the background figures at a wedding reception: a sort of sketchy watercolour method without his usual cartoon outlining, which keeps the figures out of focus so as to keep the viewer's attention on the foreground drama.

The Mulliner stories are not my absolute favourites from the Wodehouse oeuvre, but they have their charm.