MR. F. MANDELL-ESSINGTON, with his customary high spirited philosophy, mused that it was "for probably the best of reasons" that he found himself suddenly and mysteriously certified as insane, living in a swank asylum with no apparent means of getting out. However, he loved life and adventure far too much to remain for long behind the asylum's stone walls, so he cast about in his infinitely fertile mind for a way to escape.

This was soon accomplished, via the sympathy and generosity of a pretty female visitor and the fortuitous "borrow" of a doctor's fur coat — all of which got him to London. There, at the fashionable and expensive Hotel Mayonaise, he met Baron Rudolf von Blitzenberg.

It so happened that the young baron was alone in London, and thus was easily talked into taking our "lunatic" as guide, companion, etc.—with all expenses paid.

These amazing doings of this clever and worldly-wise gentleman, including subsequent nonchalant changes of name, scene, and history, provide most amusing reading.

This special edition of THE LUNATIC AT LARGE by J. Storer Clouston has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original publisher, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York

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