Will Cuppy

Will Cuppy, born William Jacob Cuppy (August 23, 1884 - September 19, 1949) in Auburn, Indiana, was an American humorist and journalist known for his satirical books about nature and historical figures. His father, Thomas Jefferson Cuppy (1844-1912), was at different times a grain dealer, a seller of farm implements and a lumber buyer for the Eel River branch of the Wabash Railroad. His mother, Frances Stahl Cuppy (1855-1927), was a seamstress and worked in a small shop located next to the family home. Young Cuppy spent summers at a farm belonging to his grandmother, Sarah Collins Cuppy (1813-1900), on the banks of the Eel River near South Whitley, Indiana. He later said that this was where he acquired his early knowledge of the natural world that he satirized in his writings.

Selected Bibliography

• Books
• (1951) How to Get from January to December, New York: Holt. Edited by Fred Feldkamp. Illustrations by John Ruge.
• (1950) The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, New York: Holt. Edited by Fred Feldkamp. Illustrations by William Steig.
• (1949) How to Attract the Wombat, New York: Rinehart.
• (1944) The Great Bustard and Other People (containing How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes and How to Become Extinct), New York : Murray Hill Books.
• (1941) How to Become Extinct, New York: Farrar and Rinehart. Illustrations by William Steig.
• (1931) How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, New York: Horace Liveright, Inc. Introduction by P. G. Wodehouse. Illustrations by "Jacks."
• (1929) How to Be a Hermit, New York: Horace Liveright.
• (1910) Maroon Tales, Chicago: Forbes & Co..
• Books, edited
• (1946) Murder Without Tears: An Anthology of Crime, New York: Sheridan House.
• (1943) World's Great Detective Stories: American and English Masterpieces, New York, Cleveland: World.
• (1943) World's Great Mystery Stories: American and English Masterpieces, New York, Cleveland: World.
• Book, contributed footnotes
• (1937) Garden Rubbish and Other Country Bumps by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman; with footnotes by Will Cuppy. New York: Farrar & Rinehart.
• Book containing articles by Will Cuppy
• (1948) The Home Book of Laughter, May Lamberton Becker (ed.), New York: Dodd, Mead.
• M.A. thesis completed at the University of Chicago
• (1914) The Elizabethan Conception of Prose Style.