The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 8, February 22, 2004, Article 19

FREDERICK AYER, NUMISMATICS, AND LITERATURE

  A few issues ago I mentioned a book by Frederick Ayer, which
  provided some background material on the J.C. Ayer Company,
  prolific advertisers on encased postage stamps, which circulated
  as money during the U. S. Civil War.  Charles Davis writes:
  "Watching CNN tonight I saw that one of the best sellers on the
  New York Times list was Walter the The Farting Dog.  I was
  reminded that Frederick Ayer Jr, grandson of the snake oil
  magnate who was mentioned a month or so ago, wrote a book
  in 1957 called "Walter the Improbable Hound."  Walter, a
  Bassett, was very much the dog about Wenham during the 1950s.
  From the book's dust jacket we are told that "Walter was
  housebroken at Wenham Massachusetts.  He has led an active
  life and traveled many thousand of miles and earned a reputation
  as an outstanding gourmand if not gourmet. He has held no town
  offices other than Town Bum.  His owner is a sometimes author
  Fred Ayer Jr, who has previously written millions of words for
  various governmental agencies and also a book 'Yankee G-Men.' "
  Surprisingly the copy I have is a second printing - must have been
  a best seller!   So the Ayer family has given us numismatics and
  literature. Perhaps someone in the family will one day be moved
  to combine the two."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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