Akbar Del Piombo was the pen-name of Norman Rubington. An American painter in Paris on the GI Bill, Rubington was a major part of Maurice Girodias’ Olympia Press, authoring eight books for the press. He also co-translated Raymond Queneau’s Zazie dans lé Metro into English with Eric Kahane and illustrated The Olympia Reader, published by Grove Press and then by Foxrock Books, from which this piece is taken.