Shelf of Shame #4

THE SHERIFF OF DYKE HOLE
Ridgwell Cullum
Toronto: Copp Clark Co. Ltd: 1909. 1st Candian edition. small 8vo. viii + 338pp. Grey-blue boards, w. gilt titles to front cover and spine.

I have three questions:
1) What's the salary?
2) What are the benefits? (other than the obvious)
3) When can I start?



I have to admit the title sold me right away - yet another fine example of verbiage that was once innocent and unremarkable, made hilarious by the innate vulgarity of the modern era, where everything is at least vaguely lewd. And before you accuse me of being the only one who makes such connections, the lady from whom I bought it today at a garage sale looked at it and said "The Sheriff of, um, uh..." trailing off awkwardly, unable to complete the title, before hastily adding "Well, I certainly don't remember that one..."

With that in mind, some of the more notable Chapter headings are:
VI. Dyke Hole Prepares
XII. Circus Day in Dyke Hole
XVI. Domestic Affairs in Dyke Hole
XVII. Scandal in Dyke Hole
XIX. Dick Roydon Takes the Plunge


For Further Research:

By all accounts, Ridgwell Cullum (whose real name was Sydney Groves Burghard) led a full and interesting life. A brief biography & bibliography can be found here.

In tone and content, his oeuvre is somewhat smiliar to that of Zane Grey, although the latter seems to have enjoyed a lasting popularity. Sad, since the only Z.G. titles that even come close to matching "Sheriff of Dyke Hole" for unitentional perversity are: "Under The Tonto Rim" (1926) and "Raiders of the Spanish Peaks" (1938) - though one could make a case for posthumously published "Shower of Gold" (2007) which, however, is merely an unabridged version of 1915's "Desert Gold".