The cow jumped over the moon. Private papers of a psychiatrist

Melbourne : F. W. Cheshire, 1956. Octavo, gilt lettered cloth (marked at foot of spine, canted), dustjacket (chipped with losses, tape repairs verso), pp. 285, internally clean.

‘An essayist and writer of poetry, Ellery was also a peripheral figure in the Angry Penguins movement. He provided the artist (Sir) Sidney Nolan with examples of drawings by psychotic patients which influenced his work, in particular a series of ‘heads’ exhibited in 1943. Ellery used one of them on the cover of his book, Psychiatric Aspects of Modern Warfare (1945), published by John Reed and Max Harris.

After suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for eighteen years, Ellery died of cancer on 27 December 1955 at Prahran and was cremated. He had just completed The Cow Jumped Over the Moon (1956), a mannered and eccentric autobiography which, through its compassionate but uncompromising account of the care of the mentally ill, made a significant contribution to medical history.’ – ADB https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ellery-reginald-spencer-reg-10110