Have you ever wanted to read a tiny book? How about a rare, tiny book? How about a rare, tiny book full of puns? If none of those trip your trigger, then I don’t know what to say except “this tiny rare book might change your mind.” It’s called The Wars of the Words, written by Willard R. Espy. It’s 3 inches by 2 3/8 inches (very small), and is the 56th of 200 copies published. This little book is an English aficionado’s dream, with personified adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and interjections in a medieval feudal system, along with whimsical illustrations by Charles C. Hefling, Jr. It begins with detailing the civil war between the Objects and Subjects of the Nouns. However they soon come to realize that they are interchangeable and reach peace. Following this we learn the different roles each part of speech plays, starting with the verbs and then moving on to the pronouns, the adjectives, etc. Overall, it’s an amusing read, if not a bit short. Mr. Espy himself was a Washington native, born in Olympia and raised in Oysterville. He was renowned as a master of wordplay. As a parting message, the author leaves us with Espy’s law: “The less you know, the safer you are,” which to anyone familiar with the habits of words and how they behave with one another is very true.
By Morgan Ford