Dog and Duck

By Arthur Machen

Book Overview

A curious game played near Lord's becomes the doorway into a wider inquiry: what happens when inherited customs meet the pressures of modern life? The observing narrator explains the game's rules, specialised language and players with comic precision, then turns the same alert eye upon English habits, public amusements and everyday assumptions. Humour here is a method of scrutiny, exposing the odd logic of convention without stripping it of fascination. Across London and beyond, first-person essays move freely between social satire, folklore, literary commentary and historical observation. Food, travel, sport, buildings, science and religion all invite reflection, while comic anecdotes keep abstract arguments rooted in lived experience. The collection's range is held together by a distinctive sensibility: curious about how customs endure, sceptical of excessive rationalism, and attentive to the pleasures that regulation and mechanical uniformity can diminish. Beneath the wit lies a sustained concern with cultural memory. Craftsmanship and sensory pleasure are treated not as decorative luxuries but as ways of knowing and valuing the world, especially when modernisation threatens to make places, practices and tastes interchangeable. Rather than offering a continuous plot, these essays build a many-sided portrait of changing social life through observation, digression and argument, preserving the texture of English customs while questioning the forces reshaping them. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9378418805
• ISBN13: 9789378418808
• Release Date: December 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"