John-a-Dreams. A Magazine for the conservative iconoclast: and the practical dreamer, devoted to mere literature and to classical typography.

[TARKINGTON, Booth]. [LITTLE MAGAZINE]. [SLOSS, Robert ("Slim"), editor]. John-a-Dreams. A Magazine for the conservative iconoclast and the practical dreamer, devoted to mere literature and to classical typography. [Illustrated]. Vol. I, No. 1-4 (of 6); Vol. II, No. 1-6 + Prospectus. 8vo, original sugar wrappers, each issue with a 2 1/8 x 3 ¼" illustration on front cover by John Sloan (in red) of a dreaming man, uncut. New York: The Corell Press & The Press at the Classical School Associated: University Place & Ninth Street, July-December, 1896; January-June, 1897.

Tarkington was quoted as saying about the demise of John-a-Dreams: "The death of that little magazine, on the staff of which I was supposed to be, was the greatest blow I ever sustained."-The Writer: A Monthly Magazine for Literary Workers (1903), vol. 16, p. 29. Includes all Tarkington contributions to this periodical. All published, with the exception of two issues, vol. I, #'s 5-6, of a little magazine founded and edited by Robert T. ("Slim") Sloss, Tarkington's friend and Princeton classmate, class of 1893, although Tarkington didn't graduate due to insufficient credits from enjoying college to much. "Booth Tarkington held the honorary position of staff artist and …contributed steadily to the magazine under the nom-de-plume of "Cecil Woodford." The issue for September, 1896 is opened to the famous 'Letter of Regrets (Left at Giles's Coffee-House; to be Given by the Waiter to Mr. Richard Rakell, Sir Thomas Wilding, or Lord Townbrake," a poem in ten quatrains…Perhaps the most ambitious of these John-a Dreams pieces, also in the eighteenth-century literary form, was the one-act comedy, "Kisses for Marjorie." Tradition recounts that one of the drawings for this… inspired him to create another story into which the characters could be fitted. This story was Monsieur Beaucaire."-An Exhibition of Booth Tarkington's Works in the Treasure Room of the Princeton University Library March-April, 1946, p. 8.

There are only five Tarkington contributions to earlier periodicals. Most of those are slim indeed, and those from his college days have been described by an early biographer (see below), as "genteel." His contributions here pre-date his first book, The Gentleman from Indiana (1900) by three years, and all are uncollected. Here are The Proud Lover, signed "Cecil Woodford", August, 1896; A Letter of Regrets (signed "Cecil Woodford", written and illustrated by Tarkington), September, 1896; The Kisses of Marjorie, and The Stupid People (both signed "Cecil Woodford", written and illustrated by Tarkington), both December, 1896.

The Kisses of Marjorie, a Play in One Scene, pp. 147-157, is Tarkington's first published play, his "first effort as a dramatist since his college days."-Currie. It has three illustrations by the author, two of which are inserted plates. Robert Cortes Holliday has a lot of interesting things to say about John-a-Dreams in his Booth Tarkington (1918), pp. 31-37, the text of which is available on-line. He describes the wrappers thusly: "It was aesthetically bound in paper varying with each issue, sometimes the kind of paper in which meat is wrapped, sometimes in the kind which used to be 'laid' under carpets. Holliday gives a fine synopsis of Kisses for Marjorie, a comedy laid in a rose garden in Philadelphia in 1778, involving two Revolutionary War officers seeking Marjorie's affections, one a Captain in the Continental Army, aide-de-camp to Light Horse Harry Lee, the other a Major of His British Majesty's Foot. The play was later presented by The Dramatic Club of Indianapolis, February 11, 1902, in which Tarkington took part in all four performances; printed in The (Indianapolis) Sunday Sentinel, March 9, 1902; and produced again at The Little Theatre, Indianapolis, March 18, 1916.

Included is a copy of the Prospectus, "Vol. 1, No. 0.", October [1895], in original illustrated wrappers with illustration by John Sloan, which appears on every other issue as well, tied, with sample illustrated text, and inserted leaves (Elizabeth H. Hawke, John Sloan's Illustrations in Magazine and Books, Delaware Art Museum, 1993). The set includes all 17 illustrations contributed by Tarkington. We know of no other issues of this periodical currently for sale. Russo & Sullivan, p. 252, and a list of illustrations, p. 207. Not in Hoffman, Allen & Ulrich, The Little Magazine. As far as we can determine OCLC records one complete set (Harvard), with thirteen other institutions recorded as having holdings all incomplete to varying degrees, with the numbers at Yale "missing." Union List of Serials. The paper used for the text in volume two is of the kind described above as "laid under carpets", and it has yellowed. Otherwise, an excellent set with some minor soiling. In morocco backed cloth folding case.