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Posted on May 20, 2015 by John

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Don Marquis on Facebook

For the latest talk about Don Marquis, his books, and upcoming performances of "Shinbone Alley" and other Archy and Mehitabel shows, please visit our companion site on Facebook. It's at www.facebook.com/DonMarquisAuthor

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by DonMarquis.com, an online omnibus with biographical bits and bibliographic notes, rare photos and illustrations, and the Internet's largest collection of works by Don Marquis. In the decade before the wits of the Algonquin Round Table achieved fame, Marquis was one of the most popular writers in America: a pre-eminent New York newspaper columnist, humor writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter and novelist.

A few facts:

>> Don’s surname is pronounced MAR-kwiss, not Mar-KEE. Don himself said it’s so.

>> Archy the cockroach typed his name in lowercase letters because he couldn’t maneuver the shift key of Don's typewriter, but he clearly preferred to see his name in capital letters. Don always used capital letters when writing about Archy and Mehitabel, although the titles of the three Archy books are correctly printed all-lowercase.

>> “archy and mehitabel” has never gone out of print since the book's first printing, in 1927. Don's publisher, Doubleday, printed hardback editions through the early 1980s, and paperbacks since 1960 — in all, more than 75 printings in the United States, plus two dozen in England. “archy and mehitabel” has also been translated into Italian and German.

Recent Posts

Ralph Barton Draws Don
Updates!
Behind the Scene, with Big Bill, Archy and Mehitabel
A Face In the Crowd
Something More?
Don Marquis in the News
Tender Thoughts on Valentine’s Day
Annual Meeting of the Don Marquis DS&P Society
Happy 102nd birthday, Archy!
A Clipping From The New York Times
New Date: Don Marquis Weekend on Governors Island
Introducing Mr. Hoskins, a Catfish Unlike Any Other
‘A Chance for Mr. Carnegie’
A Marquis Family Album
The Don Marquis Double Scotch and Prohibition Society
Don Marquis Joins New York State Writers Hall of Fame
Calvin Trillin Reads Archy and Mehitabel
Dave Barry Reads Archy and Mehitabel
Neil Gaiman Reads Archy and Mehitabel
Happy Anniversary, Archy and Mehitabel!
It’s archyFest! 100 Years of Archy and Mehitabel!
Modern Mehitabels
A New Look for Archy (Several, In Fact)
Barsotti Draws Archy in The New Yorker
Was It the Ghost of Don Marquis? Or Archy?
‘My Dear Miss Snook’ — An Incredible Letter
A Stunning Dust Jacket by George Herriman
Happy Birthday Don Marquis!
Coming Saturday: Archy’s Typewriter in Boston
Musicians: Marquis-Based Compositions Are Waiting
Archy Was Real, but That’s Not His Original Name
1912 Photograph Shows Don’s ‘Halo’
Celebrate Don’s 137th Birthday in New York
A New Typewriter for Archy — 8 Feet Tall!
Help Celebrate Archy’s 100 anniversary in March 2016!
‘My Dear Miss Hickman’
Don’s Baked Beans
99 Years of Archy and Mehitabel!
The Kardashians? A Century Late and a Dollar Short
‘Letters We’d Write if We Dared to’
Photos From ‘archy and mehitabel’ (1954)
‘The Wooden Indian’s Story’
Don Tells the Story of ‘Moister Oysters’
Goodbye, Colonel Vonnegut (1922-2013)
Sam Waterston Reads ‘archy interviews a pharaoh’
A Bit of Fun From The Sun Dial
Meet Barbara Marquis, Newspaper Editor
A New Anthology: ‘The Best of Archy and Mehitabel’
Welcome to the New DonMarquis.com
Christopher Morley Pens a Paean to a Cockroach

Buy a Book!

ARCHY AND MEHITABEL: The printing in the paperback edition is a bit ragged nowadays (it hasn't been typeset since 1960), but the stories and poems are pure bliss. Also available as a spiffy ebook.

THE ANNOTATED ARCHY AND MEHITABEL: Editor Michael Sims presents more than 200 of Don Marquis' Archy tales in chronological order from 1916 through 1922, with insightful annotations that give the backstory to each one. It is part of the Penguin Classics series and is also available as an ebook.

THE BEST OF ARCHY AND MEHITABEL: An abridged version of “the lives and times of archy and mehitabel” (below), first published in 2011 as part of Alfred A. Knopf's Everyman’s Library (Pocket Poets series). Also available as an ebook.

THE LIVES AND TIMES OF ARCHY AND MEHITABEL: The popular omnibus edition of all three Archy books, with the beloved introduction by E.B. White. Available as an ebook.

ARCHYOLOGY: Editor Jeff Adams reawakened interest in Archy and Mehitabel in 1996 with this collection of Archy sketches that had never before been gathered in a book. Published by the University Press of New England.

ARCHYOLOGY ii (THE FINAL DIG): A companion volume from Jeff Adams, published in 1998 with a fresh batch of long-unseen Archy sketches. Also published by the University Press of New England.

A Few More Links

Online editions of 11 books by Don Marquis are available on the University of Pennsylvania's Online Books Page.

Actor Gale McNeeley's Archy and Mehitabel page, with links to 13 YouTube videos of his Archy performances.

Jim Ennes' fine Don Marquis site.

The musical "archy & mehitabel," based on the 1957 Broadway show “Shinbone Alley,” is available for local theater productions from Music Theater International.

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