Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Keith Richards sparks rush for rare book after singing its praises on radio

Abebooks reports a run on old editions of James Norman Hall’s out-of-print Doctor Dogbody’s Leg after Rolling Stones guitarist picks it as a Desert Island read 

Keith Richards.


Let it read ... Keith Richards. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Archive

An obscure collection of short stories that sees a one-legged sailor wax lyrical on the various ways in which he might have lost his limb has become the most searched-for title on books marketplace Abebooks, following a tip from Keith Richards.

The Rolling Stones guitarist, upon whom Johnny Depp loosely based his drunk pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, picked James Norman Hall’s story collection Doctor Dogbody’s Leg as his book of choice when he appeared on Desert Island Discs. Published in 1940 and out of print, the book’s author is better known for the novel Mutiny on the Bounty, which he co-wrote with Charles Nordhoff.

Doctor Dogbody’s Leg is set in a Portsmouth tavern called the Cheerful Tortoise, where a Royal Navy surgeon tells a series of stories about how he lost his leg during the Napoleonic wars.

“I chose it basically because it’s a collection of stories about this guy. He’s a sailor, 18th century, Portsmouth harbour, but he’s got one leg. And every time he turns up at the table he has a different story about how he lost it. And they’re all plausible as well,” Richards told Kirsty Young on 25 October
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