The lot of a collector of valuable property is not always an easy one. What Eddie Wilson considers swell stuff, his family frequently labels junk. The delicate negotiations required to obtain these prizes are, in Eddie's eyes, big deals, but they sometimes turn out to be big headaches.

Eddie faces one harrowing situation after another. New neighbors arrive, their station wagon bulging with fascinating possessions. But what does Eddie get out of it? A raw deal instead of a big one. Then comes the affair of the hand printing press, Eddie's dearest desire. It is, to his joy, offered free of charge to anyone who will take it away, and who beats Eddie to it? A girl, and not even the right girl. In the course of Eddie's efforts to make a deal for the printing press, all sorts of curious objects change hands, among them an ancient beaten-up wig, a handful of feathers from a peacock's tail, a dilapidated old baby doll with a hole in the top of her head. The doll brings the worst humiliation to Eddie—and will probably bring the most uproarious laughter to Miss Haywood's readers. The peacock, however, is a close runner-up.

The big question, of course, concerns the printing press. Does Eddie get it, after all his heroic efforts? We doubt if anyone would lay a bet against Eddie—or lay down this utterly delightful book before learning the answer. 

From the dust jacket