Writing and Printing

Gadsby (novel)

Gadsby is a 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, written without words that contain the letter E, the most common letter in English. A work that deliberately avoids certain letters is known as a lipogram. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of protagonist John Gadsby and a youth organizer. Though vanity published and little noticed in its time, the book has since become a favorite of fans of constrained writing and is a sought-after rarity among some book collectors. The first edition carries on the title page and cover the subtitle A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter "E" (with the variant 50,000 Word Novel Without the Letter "E" on the dust jacket), sometimes dropped from late reprints.

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See also

• ▸Columnist
• ▸Anti-Catholicism
• ▸Bergens Tidende

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