THIS is Clarence Day's first book, originally published in 1920, and continuously popular ever since—not only with the relatively small group of readers who discovered it in the first place, but also with the many who came to it only after reading his great popular successes, Life with Father and Life with Mother.

It is natural to divide Clarence Day's books into two distinct groups: those which deal with his mother and father, and those which contain his random reflections on the business of living, the arts, and the foibles of mankind (including Thoughts Without Words, This Simian World, and After All). But since there is a single mood and a consistent point of view in all these books, it is possible to regard them as chapters of a single work; and that work is a commentary —at once wise and amusing, gay yet essentially serious, gentle yet rugged and masculine—on homo sapiens and civilization.

If that sounds somewhat pedantic, it should be remembered that many acute critics have called Day an anthropologist at the same time that they were writing about his quiet, delightful humor. Like all great satirists, there was profundity in his comedy.

Those who were enchanted by the Father and Mother pieces will find similar enchantment in This Simian World.

This special edition of THIS SIMIAN WORLD has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York.

Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council on Books in Wartime