Product Description
My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is cool-headed and poised. This collection, the first book of Jeeves and Wooster stories, includes:

LEAVE IT TO JEEVES - JEEVES AND THE UNBIDDEN GUEST - JEEVES AND THE HARD-BOILED EGG - ABSENT TREATMENT - HELPING FREDDIE - RALLYING ROUND OLD GEORGE - DOING CLARENCE A BIT OF GOOD - THE AUNT AND THE SLUGGARD
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Customer Reviews (24)

my man jeeves
thank you for your review I will work on puting the other books talked about on line . please if you ever fine a problem even a missing period on a book put thatin the review I try to check my books often. thank you again

Classic dry Wodehouse humor, read by a master
This DVD contains three Jeeves stories, wonderfully interpreted by the talented Martin Jarvis.The reading of the stories is so good that you can easily envision the hilarious antics of the ever-bumbling Bertie and his "gentleman's gentleman" Jeeves.The first story is the best because it is actually about the two main characters.The second and third stories concern events, narrated by either Jeeves or Bertie, which happen to other people.

The first story is worth the price of the DVD, as Bertie decides that his life is tiresome, that he is lonely and so needs some variety.Jeeves interprets this with some alarm as he believes that Bertie may be contemplating marriage.When Bertie goes so far as to actually suggest that his sister and her three daughters move in with him after he purchases a place in the country,Jeeves intervenes in his own stately and inimitable manner.The one-liners all the way through are terrific.And the stories are just wonderful.This is a DVD that can be played time and again without becoming old.

I recommend not only purchasing this Wodehouse collection, but any Wodehouse read by Jarvis.

what can I say?I love Jeeves!
Jeeves is the latter day fairy god father.Who wouldn't want such an unflappable resource with answers to all questions at one's beck and call? Even when it looks as if Jeeves might be wrong, he has all in hand, it all turns out well.This is a restful collection of Wodehouse's short stories.Wodehouse was an adept storyteller, long or short from, and while this is not a collection of his very best shorts, it's quite a good sampling.

Jeeves is always good.
Short Jeeves and Pepper (prototype of Wooster) stories. Interesting cause theyre early stories, otherwise not the best Wodehouse, but still awesome.

Jeeves is the man!
Oh Mr. Wodehouse!One of the finest witty wordsmiths who ever picked up a pen.When I need a smile, or a lift, or even a roll on the floor laugh I turn to one of the many wonderful works of Wodehouse.
So many to choose from, and each one is from a different period in PG 'Plum' to his friends - life.While my favorite character is Psmith, how can I not enjoy the mutterings of Ukridge, or long to have my life saved from disasters by the likes of Jeeves.
Stephen Fry wrote 'Without Wodehouse I am not sure I would be a tenth of what I am today...his writings awoke me to the possibilities of language.His rhythms, tropes, tricks and mannerisms are deep within me.But more than that, he taught me something about good nature.It IS enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind.
As laughter is the best medicine, perhaps we need a good dose of Wodehouse from time to time, and during these bleak winter months, in the dark time of the economy, Wodehouse is just what the Doctor ordered!

I just loved these stories in book form or on TV! ... Read more

Product Description
The works of Wodehouse in one giant Kindle collection with an active table of contents.

Works include:

Short Stories
Death at the Excelsior - And Other Stories
A Man of Means - A Series of Six Stories
The Man Upstairs - and Other Stories
Man With Two Left Feet - and Other Stories

Books
The Adventures of Sally
The Clicking of Cuthbert
The Coming of Bill
A Damsel in Distress
The Gem Collector
The Girl on the Boat
The Gold Bat
The Head of Kay's
Indiscretions of Archie
The Intrusion of Jimmy
The Little Nugget
The Little Warrior
Love Among the Chickens
Mike
Mike and Psmith
Not George Washington
Piccadilly Jim
The Politeness of Princes
The Pothunters
A Prefect's Uncle
The Prince and Betty
Psmith in the City
Psmith, Journalist
Something New
The Swoop
Tales of St. Austin's
Three Men and a Maid
Uneasy Money
The White Feather
William Tell Told Again

Jeeves
My Man Jeeves
Extricating Young Gussie
Right Ho, Jeeves
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The early works of a master
P.G. Wodehouse was an Anglo/American humorist active from 1902 to 1975. Born in England to parents that were often in the colonies, he spent most of his youth alternating between relatives and British "public" schools. He first found his market in boys magazines, and for the first ten years his tales and novels largely involved young boys at school. Eventually publishers realized that his silly adults were even funnier than his silly boys, and for most of the rest of his career children were secondary characters. Then Broadway became interested in dramatizing his work, and American publishers discovered that humorous British stories would sell magazines so he started commuting to America. Eventually he acquired an American wife and the commute went the other way, as often to France as to Britain. He was caught in Paris in May of 1940 and spent most of the war in German prison camps. While in the camps he broadcast some humorous stories about life in the camps, that earned him some brief postwar enmity, but most viewed as a minor matter. He then resumed writing continuing until the near the end of his life in his mid-90s.

The vast majority of his work is light comedy, usually involving people getting into complicated situations over some trifle (situation comedies) often with a romantic misunderstanding. His rare forays into satire were also light. His work is noted for the vividness of his characterizations, the complexity and absurdity of his plots, the wit of his language, and its unusual presentation of British society. His depiction of British society is largely based on that of his youth, and the disruptions of that life due to two world wars, a great depression, and the loss of colonies are scarcely noted. Some idea of his work might be had by imagining Wilde rewriting "The Importance of Being Ernest" so that cars, radio, jazz age songs, movies, and (in later versions) jet planes and TV all appear quietly and naturally.

This book collects those of his works that had fallen into the US public domain and were readily available for scanning using character recognition software. As such it contains most of his novels, short stories and essays published before about 1929. His plays of the period are missing. Also missing is his best novel of the period, "Leave it to Psmith", although the other Psmith novels are included. I suspect a later revision kept it out of the public domain when this collection was undertaken. The first half of this collection, the boys stories and the early "adult" stories are those of an author still learning his craft. While I consider his best period to be from 1928-1955, by 1918 his work, particularly his short stories, had achieved a high and consistent level of quality, and almost anything after 1918 is worth reading, if you enjoy light nonsense. Particularly recommended are the Jeeves and Wooster books, the Psmith books, "The Clicking of Cuthbert," "The Indiscretions of Archie," "Something New", and "The Man with Two Left Feet" collection. The number of such works in this volume and its low cost make this well worth obtaining. FWIW my teenage daughters love th Jeeves stories, though they have yet to be introduced to Blandings Castle.

Still the best
Over a hundred years later, still some of the best humorous writing in the English language.

good kindle formatting
The formatting is good on this kindle edition. It has an active table of contents so you can jump forward to the story or novel you wish to read (and there are a lot of them!) and each book has its own table of contents.

For some reason you can't jump to the TOC from the Kindle menu, but it's nearly as easy to jump to the cover and page forward a couple pages, so I really don't feel a need to complain. A great collection of a great author for a great price! ... Read more

Product Description
The novels of Wodehouse in one collection with active table of contents. Works include:

The Adventures of Sally
The Clicking of Cuthbert
The Coming of Bill
A Damsel in Distress
The Gem Collector
The Girl on the Boat
The Gold Bat
The Head of Kay's
Indiscretions of Archie
The Intrusion of Jimmy
The Little Nugget
The Little Warrior
Love Among the Chickens
Mike
Mike and Psmith
Not George Washington
Piccadilly Jim
The Politeness of Princes
The Pothunters
A Prefect's Uncle
The Prince and Betty
Psmith in the City
Psmith, Journalist
Something New
The Swoop
Tales of St. Austin's
Three Men and a Maid
Uneasy Money
The White Feather
William Tell Told Again

Jeeves:
My Man Jeeves
Extricating Young Gussie
Right Ho, Jeeves ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wodehouse is the best English-language writer since Shakespeare
I you like clever, intelligent language and have a sharp sense of humor, you must read Wodehouse. He's the guy who created the Jeeves character, and he wrote tons of Jeeves stories (I'm not sure how many of them are in this collection but there are some). And the stories not involving Jeeves are also a hoot.

Here's a little quote from one of the stories in this collection:

"Still, he could balance himself with one hand on an inverted ginger-ale bottle while revolving a barrel on the soles of his feet. There is good in all of us."

From "The Adventures of Sally" by P.G. Wodehouse

One drawback is that I'm pretty sure this collection was created from that project that takes out-of-copyright books and "publishes" them -- Project Gutenberg ( [...] ), whose website says "Our free books were previously published by bona fide publishers and digitized with the help of thousands of volunteers." And it shows - there is the occasional apparent transcription error that leaves you wondering if the typist got it right. But mostly they seem accurate. It's just a bit annoying when you stumble upon some wording that isn't quite right, and you just know that the master couldn't have written it that way.

A fun read
I'm in the process of reading this book and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. In the past I have read old books that were humorous at the time they were written but lost most of the humor over the years. That's not the case with these stories. P.G. Wodehouse makes me laugh out loud. I can think of no higher praise.

Great books, awful typeface
P.G. Wodehouse is always great to read, but I found the typeface on this version is difficult to read, much messier than other Kindle versions.Great books, but poor choice of typeface.

Great Bargain
This volume of Wodehouse novels is a fantastic bargain.It has some of the US and Brit releases and while it duplicates some of the other offerings in other Wodehouse collections, it costs only ninety nine cents to get all of these great novels on your kindle.It is certainly worth the minimal investment.You will see how Wodehouse hones his writing over his long career as these novels span his entire productive life. Enjoy the odd, eccentric and just plain nutso characters that inhabit Wodehouse's world. ... Read more

Product Description
Bertie asks Jeeves to help Gussie Fink-Nottle capture the affections of Madeline Bassett, but disagrees with his methods, which involve dressing Gussie up in tights and a false beard. But when Bertie's own ill-laid plan gangs agley, he must turn to Jeeves again to bring the hapless couple together, even if it means giving up his latest sartorial acquisition.
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Customer Reviews (28)

fine book, bizarre printing
I'm a PG Wodehouse fan, and have the nice penguin paperbacks for several of his books. I just received in the mail a very bizarre offprint. It's poorly printed on 8.5x11 paper. What the????

right ho, jeeves
What a word-smith! It was my pleasure to discover this humorous journey.I encourage you to take the trip soon.

Order another edition
WARNING - this edition( billed as CreateSpace Publishers, copy says IAP Publishers, Los Vegas) is a poorly scanned copy - as far as i can tell - for page size type is oddly small, margins oddly large and type is crooked on page as though run through a scanner.

Great book
Purchased this book for my older teen son who loves to read - he loved it and could be heard laughing throughout the book.he can't wait to read more of the series.

Cute, but I wouldn't want a whole diet of Bertie Wooster
Amusing but without chapter breaks it tends to run together.Everyone must have a Jeeves story in their library.I've got mine, enjoyed it, and will now move on. ... Read more

Product Description
The best known novels and stories of P.G. Wodehouse in one large collection with an active table of contents.

Works include:
The Adventures of Sally
The Clicking of Cuthbert
Death at the Excelsior
The Girl on the Boat
Love Among the Chickens
Man Upstairs
My Man Jeeves
Right Ho, Jeeves
Three Men and a Maid
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unbelievable!!
I cannot believe this wonderful classic is available on Kindle for only a buck!? There are 9 books included containing some of the best known works of Mr. Wodehouse, both full length books and short stories. We especially enjoyed the Jeeves selections. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Comics ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Fantastic Discovery!
A confirmed Wodehouse fan, I was thrilled to discover this (newly republished?) one. It's HILARIOUS, and uses all Wodehouse's New York stage experience and ability to replicate the slang of the time. Absolutely fabulous, and a must for the Wodehouse reader, or anyone who likes a slapstick, rib tickling, joyful book.

Romantic fun
First off, let me say that I adore the Wodehouse Collector's editions.These are beautiful books--full cloth bindings and an easy-to-read typeface printed on acid-free paper.

Now, on to the story itself.

While this work does not display the lovely lunacy of Wodehouse's classic Jeeves stories, it is not without merit.Best described as a romantic comedy, it gives readers a peek into the inner working of a Broadway show, circa 1920.

A worthwhile read for Wodehouse lover.

an amusing Wodehouse with a good look at 1930s Broadway
When Jill Mariner is dumped by her rich, pompous fiancé and loses all her money on the same day, she decides to cross the ocean to New York with her rapscallion uncle Chris. After a short stay with some relations on Long Island, she ends up on Broadway, in the chorus of a new musical and having an unexpected new romance.

I thought the book was a little overlong and could have been tightened; it feels a little rambly in places, particularly during the Long Island interlude, which connects the London and New York parts of the book but isn't terribly interesting in and of itself. I did like the feisty heroine and her romance, which was rather more heartfelt than usual in a Wodehouse, and Wodehouse's insider's look at 1930s Broadway is funny and engaging.

Wodehouse and New York
For Wodehouse fans, one of the less well-known novels, which they would enjoy reading anyway... a lot of the usual Wodehouse humour based on how people think and react to situations. There are other Wodehouse novels where the charm of New York comes across. This one is as good as any of them in that respect. It also captures the inner workings of the stage and the making of musicals, of course in a 'Wodehousean' way.

Not Bad, But Could Use Some Editing
"Jill the Reckless" by P. G. Wodehouse was first published in the U.S. by George H. Doran under the title "The Little Warrior" on October 11, 1920.It was published in the U.K. by Herbert Jenkins under this title on July 4, 1921.This is one of the longer books by Wodehouse, running over 400 pages, and it is not part of any series.The cast of characters is fairly large, with some being introduced for the first time almost halfway through the book.

The story is typical Wodehouse, which is to say that it is simple and yet complicated with many twists and turns, all leading back to a place where the reader pretty much expects it to get after the initial setup section of the book.In this case, the key character is Jill Mariner, and she is joined by Freddie Rooke and Wally Mason, who (as we learn) were Jill's childhood friends.Wally had a big crush on Jill in their earlier lives, but when the story starts Jill is engaged to Sir Derek Underhill, and is about to be introduced to his mother Lady Underhill.Jill is still in touch with Freddie, and Wally re-enters their lives when they go to see his new play.Other key characters are Major Christopher Selby, who is Jill's uncle and was in charge of her inheritance; and Nelly Bryant, who is an American chorus girl who is stranded in London.

The story follows Jill through a broken engagement over a misunderstanding, the loss of her wealth, her living with relatives who have their own plans, her decision to get work as a chorus girl, and, as with all Wodehouse, the finding of the love of her life.The story starts in England, but moves to America which brings in her additional relatives, as well as Isaac Goble, Otis Pinkington, and his wealthy aunt Mrs. Peagrim.Isaac is a theatrical manager and has been contracted by Otis to put on a play which he wrote called "The Rose of America".At times the story seems to lose its way, and one wonders if it wouldn't have worked better if it had been edited down a bit from its 414 pages.

While this book is far from his best, I would say it is a decent example of Wodehouse's work, and far from his worst.With a little more trimming, this might have been even better, but even without that you will find plenty of enjoyment.It is a solid three stars, and in fact slightly above average over all.
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Product Description
The four short story collections by Wodehouse in one large collection with an active table of contents.

Works include:
Death at the Excelsior - And Other Stories
A Man of Means - A Series of Six Stories
The Man Upstairs - and Other Stories
Man With Two Left Feet - and Other Stories
... Read more

Product Description
For all fans of the incomparable and outrageously funny portrayer of English upper-class life, here is a necessary addition to the Wodehouse shelf. Taken mostly from old newspapers and magazines, these previously uncollected articles and short stories were written early in Wodehouse's literary career. Included are the only mystery story Wodehouse ever wrote, the first of his many articles for Punch, a hilarious spoof of the advertising world, amusing accounts of British public school life, and many other collector's delights. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Before Jeeves and Wooster
After watching the excellent Steven Fry and Hugh Laurie Jeeves and Wooster programs, I read a few of the Jeeves and Wooster books and found them as hilarious as the TV shows. Little did I know that Wodehouse had a seventy-five year writing career which included plays, lyrics, poems, magazine articles, novels, and short stories. The Uncollected Wodehouse assembles some of Wodehouse's early works and short stories that haven't appeared in other collections and had therefore been unavailable until the publication of this book, shortly after Wodehouse died in 1975.

The stories aren't bad, but there are only glimpses of Wodehouse's future genius and humor. To be fair, many of these pieces were only intended for magazines and were "disposable," in a sense. The short article on advertising, for instance, was probably funny at the time (circa 1909) but doesn't compare to Dorothy Sayers's scathingly funny indictment of the advertising profession in her Murder Must Advertise.

A few of the short stories in The Uncollected Wodehouse, on the other hand, are still quite funny. You can visualize the chaos of nineteen baskets each containing a pug dog arriving at the door of the very proper Colonel Reynolds in When Papa Swore in Hindustani. And Reggie Pepper in The Test Case is funny enough as a precursor to Bertie Wooster that it would be worthwhile tracking down the other six stories he appeared in.

Uncollected collection
P.G. Wodehouse is known to generations of fans as the creator of Jeeves and Wooster, but his writing was quite more eclectic and widespread than that venerable collection of tales.This text, compiled by David Jasen (Wodehouse's principal biographer) shows a new breadth to Wodehouse - this includes newspaper and magazine articles, short stories beyond his usual genre (including the only mystery short story Wodehouse ever wrote), and even a little bit of poetry.

Wodehouse himself had an eventful life, including time spent in a prison camp as well as incarceration in a maternity home in France, but, according to Malcolm Muggeridge in the Foreword, there is no diminishment in the quality of Wodehouse's writing regardless of his personal circumstances.This is apparent reading across this broad collection that spans the greater part of seven decades, that Wodehouse had a particular gift and style that remained permanent.

Wodehouse, according to Muggeride and Jasen, was a clown of the highest order - clowns are often keen observers of human nature and activity, knowning what makes people tick, so as to make them laugh.'Laughter, indeed, is a great equaliser between the impulse to adulate and a propensity to scoren those, as the Book of Common Prayer has it, set in authority over us - which is why, incidentally, laughter is so abhorrent to all authoritarians whatever their ideology.'Humourous romances are rarely the stuff of revolution, but they often do little to support the existing order of things.Wodehouse's stories have depth to them, but there's always an undercurrent that simultaneously admires and disparages the system - whatever that system may be.

In this collection are characters little known even to Wodehouse fans.For example, the character of Reggie Pepper, was the first series character for Wodehouse; however, with the advent of Bertie Wooster, Pepper receded from view.This is a book full of 'what ifs' that the keen observer can derive much pleasure, and much frustration, from considering.This, in the end, is only true to form of the Wodehouse style.

It's Wodehouse. How bad could it be?
These collected writings, of various sorts, while not the cream of the Wodehouse crop, are still Wodehouse. As such, they are still superior to roughly 95% of everything else written in a humorous vein. What's more, taken as a whole, they show the evolution of Wodehouse's writing from schoolboy days into his prime. And, some of them are, in fact, gems.

Not, perhaps, the book with which to makes one's acquaintance with Wodehouse, but a worthy addition to the published Wodehouse collection.

No Bottom to This Barrel
When the wary reader encounters "The Uncollected So-and-So", he is wise to keep a tight grip on his billfold.He may suspect that what has gone uncollected may have been left lying about for good reason and perhapsshould have been placed in the hands of a "collector" of a kindother than literary.

Happily, P. G. Wodehouse inspires no such fears. One might say that, while some Wodehouse is better than others, none isworse.Though falling largely into the second class, the pieces in thismodest volume lack nothing of the familiar Plumsian delight.

Thehistorically minded will find the very first writing for which Plumreceived pay ("Some Aspects of Game-Captaincy", in which theterms "blot" and "excrescence" are coupled in the waythat would someday rolling trippingly off the tongues of Bertie Wooster'saunts), his first appearance in Punch ("An UnfinishedCollection", the prelude to many a future collecting mania), his firstpublished short story ("When Papa Swore in Hindustani", where,not for the last time, a recalcitrant father learns the hidden virtues ofhis daughter's beau) and his first butler story ("The GoodAngel", whose Keggs misplaces his h's and lacks Jeeves' nobility ofspirit but nonetheless applies a keen understanding of the psychology ofthe individual to reunite young hearts separated by an interlopingpoet).

There are, in all, fourteen stories, none likely to be familiar toeven the most assiduous Wodehousian, and fifteen occasional items fromnewspapers, including a couple of poems.The non-stories("nonfiction" would be distinctly not le mot juste) are veryslight (averaging only two pages each), and some depend on topicalreferences for their humor.They are best enjoyed as bon-bons between themore substantial fare.

Wodehouse unfortunately stopped writing a fewyears ago.Editors must now fish into the barrel for new entertainments. It is our good fortune that this particular barrel has no bottom. ... Read more

Product Description
The best humor works of Wodehouse in one collection with an active table of contents.

The Adventures of Sally
The Clicking of Cuthbert
Death at the Excelsior
The Girl on the Boat
Love Among the Chickens
Man Upstairs
My Man Jeeves
Right Ho, Jeeves
Three Men and a Maid ... Read more

Product Description
William Tell Told Again is two children's books in one. One is a picture book--16 full-color illustrations by Philip Dadd described in verse by John W. Houghton. The other is a humorous novel by P. G. Wodehouse, based on the picture book. The novel has a lengthier storyline, a more intricate plot, and more characterization. The bound volume intermingled the picture book with the novel, illustrations and poems appearing at regular intervals. Most pictures and verses were distant from the page of the novel that they reflected.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Different Kind Of Wodehouse
With "William Tell Told Again" P. G. Wodehouse ventured into the area of Children's literature.Originally published on November 11th, 1904, the story fits exactly the title, as Wodehouse retells the legend of William Tell in kind of a "Fractured Fairy Tales" manner.Of course, retelling a legend which is fairly straight-forward is considerably different then the carefully crafted twisting tales that Wodehouse is famous for, and even different than his earlier school stories which tended to have not quite so many twists to them.Nevertheless, Wodehouse does an admirable job of turning the legend into a light, quick, and enjoyable read.

Wodehouse takes some liberties with the legend itself, and of course turning it into a humorous light-hearted story changes it quite a bit from the serious telling of the tale.One device which does well is the adding in of characters like "Arnold of Sewa", a man who always thinks he should be chosen for the important jobs, but apparently the rest of the townspeople don't agree as he ends up sitting on the sidelines complaining how he could have done better.At the same time, some of the changes prove problematic at times, especially when the story is at its most serious point.Wodehouse pretty much has to abandon the humor at that point and rely on the characterizations from earlier in the book to carry the reader through to the end.

All in all this is a decent foray into children's literature and was a nice diversion after four books of school stories.Adding to the story itself are the illustrations which are mixed in with the story, and the verse which accompanies each illustration.In this way, one gets two telling of the story, one in verse and the other a novel.The illustrations are by Philip Dadd, and the verse was written by John W. Houghton.

A Simple Tale Told Simply, By A Master
This early example of Wodehouse's whimsy is perfect for reading aloud to a child before bedtime, or for enjoying ones' self no matter the age.The tale of Tell is not well known by many these days-- learn a little history (well, legend) and enjoy Wodehouse's always- sparkling prose and verse in this extended fable.

One hundred years later, he's still hard to beat for humor.

Reminiscent of _1066 and All That_, but without the accuracy or humor
The basic conceit of Wodehouse's part of this book was to tell a version of the legend of William Tell as if all the characters were ordinary English idiots of the early twentieth century.The effect is rather like that of _1066 and All That_, but without the accuracy, and hence without the humor.Wodehouse's prose was written to accompany verse by John W. Houghton, which in turn was written to accompany illustrations by Philip Dadd.I haven't seen the illustrations, but the verse is much worse than Wodehouse's prose; I'm sure he could could have done it better himself.Wodehouse's style was quite good even early in his career, so the book is readable; it's just not worth reading if you can read his later work instead.

An early masterpiece
One of Wodehouse's earliest efforts, this is a must-own for any Wodehouse fan. Still written in the days when the master was doing school tales, one can see precusors of that incredible ability that Wodehouse had, to take the English language to places few others could have imagined it could go to. A simple tale of good triumphing over evil - it is one of those rare Wodehouses (probably the only one) in which a character dies. In his later & much more celebrated efforts, one got the feeling that all his characters were ageless & immortal. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short stories from the author of Jeeves and Wooster...

Bill the Bloodhound -- Extricating Young Gussie -- Wilton's Holiday -- The Mixer (I) -- The Mixer (II) -- Crowned Heads -- At Geisenheimer's -- The Making of Mac's -- One Touch of Nature -- Black for Luck -- The Romance of an Ugly Policeman -- A Sea of Troubles -- The Man with Two Left Feet.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Funny Stories
There were some very funny stories in this collection and I imagine it could serve as an introduction to Wodehouse because it was my first time reading his work.Recommended!

Not quite as bad as The Man Upstairs
This collection is slightly better than its similarly titled predecessor, _The Man Upstairs_; the proper reading order for Wodehouse completists would put this one just after that one, since it contains stories written well before the book publication date.It might also make sense to read the Reggie Pepper stories added to the American version, published in the British version of _My Man Jeeves_, originally published 1911 and after.
The stories are mostly more of Wodehouse's early crude ridicule of the lower classes, with some notable exceptions.The very first Bertie Wooster story "Extricating Young Gussie" is worth reading, though Jeeves is barely mentioned."At Geisenheimer's" is remarkably dark and mature; I think Wodehouse was subtly deconstructing his early coincidence-driven plotting--the plot is not as preposterous as it first appears.The rest are mostly unreadable, with "The Mixer: He Meets a Shy Gentleman" notable only for Wodehouse's third (by my count) instance of getting humor from the killing of a dog.

Light, Fun Reading
Man with two left feet is a delightful book.People have been raving about Wodehouse for a long time and I have enjoyed watching Jeeves and Wooster but this is my first venture beyond Jeeves.

It is very easy reading BUT cleverly written.

This book is a compilation of fourteen short, amusing and sometime poignant stories.Wodehouse is not deep so it was a great choice for a recent trip for on board reading.

My favorite in this book was actually not The Man with Two Left Feet but rather At Geisenheimer's.

Bought by Mistake
I am rating this for the Kindle edition.I was downloading some of the free Kindle editions of Wodehouse and accidentally clicked on this book and am out $7.99.It was my stupid mistake, of course, but I wish that amazon.com would separate the free books from the paid ones.I expect that I'm not the only person who has inadvertently bought something that s/he thought was free.

More from Wodehouse's fantasy world
Another collection of Wodehouse stories, only one of which ("Extricating Young Gussie") is a Bertie Wooster story.Reading these stories at the same time as the first volume of Theodore Sturgeon's complete short stories constantly had me drawing comparisons between the two writers. Wodehouse never wrote fantasy *per se* (that is, Bertie Wooster never encountered a genie or a god in his garden), but in truth his stories were always fantastical.As commentators have said, the idyllic world of young men in spats and authoritative aunts was a figment of Wodehouse's imagination, and never existed at any time in England.I don't think Wodehouse would have disagreed; he knew the power of fantasy.In this volume, he tells one story ("The Mixer") from the point of view of a dog, and one of his habits was to read the entire Shakespeare's collected works every year, and Willy wasn't a stranger to fantasy, either. ... Read more

Product Description
The sunshine of a fair Spring morning fell graciously on London town. Out in Piccadilly its heartening warmth seemed to infuse into traffic and pedestrians alike a novel jauntiness so that bus drivers jested and even the lips of chauffeurs uncurled into not unkindly smiles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Career-changing first masterpiece
This is Wodehouse's first masterpiece, and (according to his best biographer, McCrum) it transformed his career and made him a success.It was the first book Wodehouse sold to the Saturday Evening Post, and the first he wrote with a new agent and a newly-wed wife; it's also vastly better crafted than anything he'd written previously.It shows the skill and heart, mixed with low humor, that characterize his mature pieces; it also earned him a huge sum of money.It's the first appearance of Blandings Castle, (with an insignificant exception) Lord Emsworth, the Efficient Baxter, the awe-inspiring butler Beach, and the rest of Blandings Castle's large and stratified domestic staff.

The book appeared in two versions, and the objective evidence doesn't make it clear which was written first.The US version, entitled _Something New_, and now available from Project Gutenberg, was published first.Terry Mordue's excellent annotations, available on the web, make it clear that the final version of the American text is later than the English, since the American version corrects a mistake that slips through in _Something Fresh_ (chapter 8, p. 164).

Æsthetically,however, it seems clear the the American version was a hasty revision of the English.The Americanization of three characters in _Something New_ was clearly an afterthought; the Efficient Baxter mistakes Ashe Marson (chapter 5, p. 102) for a guest, presumably a relation of Lord Emsworth's.Even though the Americanized Marson had attended Oxford, this does not suffice (trust me) to fool an Englishman.The Americanization of George Emerson is also an æsthetic failure; Wodehouse repeatedly refers to him as a superman, which works well for an imperial police commander (in a post held by Wodehouse's uncle and, much later, by his brother (chapter 3, p. 47)); it makes no sense for a generic American lawyer.

The original title, though, must have been "Something New," since that phrase occurs four times in the book, and "something fresh" not at all(Chapter 1, p. 20, attributed to Fr Rob Bovendaard).Recent American editions, however, retain the title _Something New_ but adopt the English text. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short stories from the creator of Jeeves...

Death at the Excelsior -- Misunderstood -- The best sauce -- Jeeves and the chump Cyril -- Jeeves in the springtime -- Concealed art -- The test case.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Bad copy, do not buy.
This is the second Kindle version of Plum I've been burned on. Haven't gotten further than Location 32, because of all the errors. No apostrophes, multiple misspellings, general punctuation issues. Terrible, terrible quality. I'm attempting to get a refund now, even though I bought it several weeks ago and am only now just getting around to reading it.

Do not buy this version.

Porr Kindle version
The book itself is very good but the Kindle version seems to be a bad OCR version that was never proofed.
Numerous spelling errors, combined words, lack of punctuation make it difficult to read at times.
Every page contains at least 4-8 errors.

Death at the Excelsior
Contains Wodehouse's only mystery (in addition to other stories).Not quite vintage Wodehouse but certainly funny and well worth reading.It is not in the same class as the Jeeves or Blandings stories but close.I only gave it 4 stars simply because I compared to his best works.A 2 star Wodehouse book is better than a 4 star with most other writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Laughing Gas
Did not received product as shown in picture.
The book I did receive was good some pencil marks.

Laughing without the Gas!
What a treat Laughing Gas is to read!A great Wodehouse story and wonderful word play by the master.There is not a day that goes by that makes me wish I had met PG or Plum as he was known.I wonder if he was as masterful with language in person as he was with the written word?No matter, we have his over 100 books and Gas is one of those I like best.I love them all, but here is a few that you might also like to read:

Jill The Reckless: A British Humor Classic
Leave It To Psmith: A British Humor Classic
Love Among The Chickens: A British Humor Classic
Psmith In The City: A British Humor Classic
My Man Jeeves: A British Humor Classic

Keep reading - hope to see you at Blandings soon!

The use of language is the key to the humor.
This small book, 286 pages, is very very funny. It comes to us from one of the greatest English Comic writers. P.G. Wodehouse is best known for the worlds he created for his characters in Blandings Castle and the Wooster--Jeeves duo. In this book, Laughing Gas, he took a simple story and used his characters to take it to level of comedy that is unusual. The approach and especially the language was funny, but it also crated a farce and in some ways could be seen to be offering some interesting social satire.

The two key characters were, Joey Cooley, a child actor, and Reginald Havershot and English Earl. All the characters in the book not only complimented the comedy portrayed by Joey and Reggie but seemed to add to the farce because of their own uniqueness and role in story. The idea of swapping souls has been a well tested plot over the years and at first you wonder how going back to this plot and story, told my an author born in the late 1800's, could bring anything original or interesting to this idea. Both Reggie and Joey were at the dentist and both went under laughing gas at the same time.We were told that they somehow slipped out of their bodies in the fourth dimension and swapped. At first just a dated approach to this idea soon proved that it didn't matter and indeed was different because it was dated. It was just funny page after page.The answer lies in the characters themselves. Reggie's English approach to life in Hollywood was one where he had to survive for a few days in Joey's little, and very different, body. It is from Reggie's perception from within his own body and also during the time he was in the child's body, that we mostly see this story

The story was toldwith an English accent, in a time and place that does not really exist anymore.Both Joey and Reggie by them selves were funny but it was the plot that unfolded after the body switch that left you laughing out loud.

I was not very familiar with P.G. Wpodehouse so for me the book was a fist close look. I was not disappointed and may be hooked.

Not His Best
I'm a huge Wodehouse fan, grew up reading him, but I have to say that this particular book is more pedestrian than most of his work. The premise of two consciousness switching corporeal forms is a time-tested plot device, and here it's dressed up with the screwball antics and snappy language one expects from Wodehouse. The gist of it is that the newly minted Earl of Havershot heads off to America to rescue his alcoholic cousin Reggie from the perils of Hollywood dames and booze. Being a very traditional Wodehouse hero (average looking, kind hearted, more or less hapless, and somewhat dense), he manages to become besotted by a vapid movie starlet. Alas, soon after his arrival in Hollywood, he suffers a severe toothache and visits a dentist, resulting the application of the titular vapors.

Whilst under the influence, his consciousness gets swapped with that of Joey Cooley, a bratty little child movie star who is having a tooth pulled in the office next door. Wacky antics ensue, as the Earl must succumb to the strict regime of the movie star under contract, including a wholly unpleasant diet, and a packed schedule of publicity appearances. As it happens, his former fiancee is on the scene as a press agent, as is his bon vivant cousin. From then on, wacky antics ensue, as the Earl learns the true colors of his movie star love, realizes the fine qualities of his ex, and of course everything ties up rather neatly at the end. Along the way, Wodehouse is given licence to draw upon his own experiences to poke very mild fun at life in Hollywood. The book feels somewhat rote, probably because it's such a familiar premise, and it reads as if someone took it and applied a Wodehouse-wash to it, and then set it out to dry. My favorite part is actually the very beginning, where the Earl sits in the Drones Club attempting to start telling his wild story. All in all, it's Wodehouse, so of course it's worth reading, but most of his output is much better.

Wodehousian humour
Having heard a lot about Wodehousian humour and wit, I was quite disappointed when I read a few of the Jeeves-Wooster series. Maybe it was the anticipation of reading 'unparalled humour and writing style' that let me down.

But recently when I picked up an old copy of "Laughing Gas" and read it on a long flight, my neighbours on the plane kept on wondering what was wrong with me - I would burst into uncontrollable giggles at almost every second page. The book was actually like Laughing Gas (sorry, couldn't resist the obvious pun).

The story revolves around an Earl (from England naturellement) who travels to America to rescue a 'wayword cousin' who has fallen for a starlet in Hollywood. But while on a visit to a dentist, the Earl exchanges bodies with that of a child-superstar Joey Cooley. The resultant confusion is simply humourous (though at times bordering on the slapstick).

What keeps the reader engrossed is not the plot (which was probably ingenious when the book was written but not anymore) but the authors ability to churn out puns and one-liners that has the readers in splits. The ending unfortunately is quite Shakespearean with suddenly everything falling into place conveniently (the good-old "all's well that ends well").

My belief in Wodehousian humour remained intact (if not stronger) after reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Kindle edition of Wodehouse's classic humor novel with an active table of contents.

The action begins with playboy bachelor Jimmy Pitt in New York; having fallen in love on a transatlantic liner, he befriends a small-time burglar and breaks into a police captain's house as a result of a bet. The cast of characters head to England, and from there on its a typically Wodehousian romantic farce, set at the stately Dreever Castle, overflowing with imposters, detectives, crooks, scheming lovers and conniving aunts.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Kindle format is worst I've seen yet
I agree with everything that Nathaniel said.I can put up with a lot of typos, but this is over my limit.I could usually figure out the word meant but this is hard work.Wodehouse isn't supposed to be hard work.It has a rhythm, and a voice, and with all of these typos, that's lost.

It is obvious the book was processed by an OCR program. And no one looked at the output before putting it up for sale.

Great Book, Terrible Transfer to Kindle
I love P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories, and this one is as good as they come. But whoever did the transfer to the Kindle format clearly just did an OCR scan and didn't bother to proofread the output.Every page (and for Kindle on iPhone, there's only about 100 words on a page) has errors, things like "He" turning into "I-Ie" or exclamation points turning into the letter I. Names are mangled, but not consistently, so you have to keep figuring out anew who they are talking about. The most frustrating part is that having an editor do even one read-through would have caught and cleaned up these errors, but apparently they didn't even do that.It's nearly unreadable, and definitely detracts from the simple and lighthearted joy of the text, because you have to work so hard to *understand* the text.My recommendation is that you read the book, but not this version. Wodehouse deserves better. ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Hordern and Richard Briers star as Jeeves and Wooster in six BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. Also featuring Maurice Denham, Paul Eddington, David Jason, John Le Mesurier, Miriam Margolyes, Jonathan Cecil, Liza Goddard and Patrick Cargill. The Inimitable Jeeves - Aunt Agatha is forcing Bertie to get engaged to the formidable Honoria Glossop. Can Jeeves save the day? The Code of the Woosters - Who would think that a silver cow-creamer could cause so much trouble? Uncle Tom wants it, and Aunt Dahlia is blackmailing Bertie to steal it. Right Ho, Jeeves. Mayhem has broken out at Brinkley Court, but there are more brains in the Wooster household than just Jeeves...Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves - Poor Bertie! Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle's engagement is on the rocks, and he's next in line for the fair maiden's hand. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit - When Jeeves returns from his annual shrimping holiday in Bognor Regis, he's in for a few surprises. Jeeves: Joy in the Morning - For Bertie, Steeple Bumphleigh is a village to be avoided as it contains the appalling Aunt Agatha. Still, there are good deeds to be done. '...a joy from first to last, delivered with absolutely the right lightness of touch, full of fun, trivial yes, but utterly enhanting' - "Chichester Observer". ... Read more

Product Description
Kindle Edition of Wodehouse's classic work with an active table of contents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

three men and a maid
I am forcing myself to finish this book.It has been boring to the point
that if it doesn't hit a home run in the next few chapters, it's going to be deleted.
Sorry.............repeated run on dialogue just doesn't get it for me. It's more like slapstick.

Three Men and a Maid
Usual entertaining story from Wodehouse, typical slightly far fetched plot but the experienced reader of Wodehouse ignores this to revel in the rollicking good humour of his magnificent prose and comic scenarios.

Another great Wodehouse
It was utterly hilarious, a marvelous read when you are in the mood for somehing light and frothy.

So funny!
This book is so, so funny! Beginnig with a wedding that never happens, thanks to the ingenious plans of a mother, down to the pains taken by an attentive young man to prove his love. Very 'G' rated and ever so funny! Recommended to everyone for a bunch of good laughs!

Good, but not the best book P. G. Wodehouse wrote.
Upper class Sam Marlowe is bitten by a small dog and smitten by its cute, but ditzy redhead owner.

This is not the funniest thing the Master ever wrote, but it is certainly better than some of his. It takes the novel a few chapters to really get going on the laughs.The first part of the book is amusing;The second part is laugh out loud funny, with some genuine momemts of hilarity. ... Read more

Product Description
Kindle edition of Wodehouse's classic humor novel with an active table of contents.

The novel follows a red-haired, dog-loving character named Wilhelmina "Billie" Bennet. It takes place on an ocean liner headed for England.

The book was adapted for film in 1963. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another pleasant romp
Another pleasant romp from Wodehouse.The protaganists are, by design, on the shallow and lightweight side.I'm sure Wodehouse had his reasons for this approach, but it causes me to rank this story behind some of Wodehouse's other books (Leave it to Psmith, Hot Water, Bill the Conqueror).On the other hand, I particularly liked the authorial side comments in this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Kindle edition of Wodehouse's classic humor book with an active table of contents.

The book tells the story of Kirk Winfield, his marriage to Ruth, and their child called Bill. Bill's upbringing is threatened by the interference of Ruth's busybody writer aunt, Mrs Lora Delane Porter.

A silent, black-and-white film version was made in 1920, under the Their Mutual Child title. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

a new discovery!
Sure, some of you know this author already, but I'd never heard of him before.Well-written, amusing, touching.

Still Fun!
P.G. Wodehouse has long been a favorite of mine, and I found this book to be a wry delight. No Jeeves in this one, but still fun.

Won't Find this in your Public Library
I read "Bill the Conqueror" before "The Coming of Bill." I could not put either one down. Though it's true that "The Coming of Bill" is much more serious than other Wodehouse books, it gives rare insight into the dangers of letting too many people into your marriage, especially controlling relatives. A happy ending made it all worthwhile.

One You Can Skip
The synopsis on the back of this book indicates that this is "The nearest Wodehouse ever came to a serious story," which I initially thought was not a very accurate description of the story.The opening part of the story is fairly typical Wodehouse, as he describes an assortment of characters, perhaps the most interesting of which is Mrs. Lora Delane Porter, a woman of very strong opinions who is more than willing to run the life of her niece Ruth, and Kirk Winfield's, the man that she has selected for Ruth.

The characters though are unable to save the plot which, soon after the introduction of the characters, lives up to description of being the most serious story that Wodehouse ever wrote.It seems as if Wodehouse took a rather mundane plot, perhaps from another work of fiction, and inserted his characters into it.Unfortunately, Wodehouse characters need a Wodehouse plot for the story to work.Instead, the reader is left waiting for the story to come to life, and it never does.

I am a long time fan of Wodehouse's work, and it pains me greatly to give such a low rating to one of his books.I struggled with whether to give this book one or two stars, but ultimately I realize that there wasn't anyone to whom I would recommend this book.Completists will read this regardless of the rating, and all others would do well to stay away.

This is a fairly early Wodehouse book which was first published in the United States under the title "Their Mutual Child" in 1919 by Boni and Liveright.In the United Kingdom, it was first published under this title on July 1st of 1920 by Herbert Jenkins.This edition is part of The Collector's Wodehouse series published by Overlook Press in the U.S., and us similar to The Everyman Wodehouse series published by Everyman's Library in the United Kingdom.This title is not part of one of Wodehouse's series.

This Novel Doesn't Work Very Well
This novel is a very atypical Wodehouse undertaking, and it's a lucky thing, because "The Coming of Bill" is not particularly successful.Wodehouse departs from his usual cast of zanies to embrace a couple of fairly straight (i.e., non-misanthrophic) characters (Kirk and his wife Ruth), who are not entertaining in the usual Wodehouse way.The greatest flaw in the novel is the voice of Bill himself.P.G.W. simply cannot capture a child's voice, and what reader of Wodehouse wants to listen to a child speak anyway?The plot, at least with regard to Ruth, is completely unbelievable, which doesn't matter in the usual Wodehouse fare, because nothing ever comes close to being believable, but here it does matter and makes "Bill" an unsatisfactory read. ... Read more

Product Description
Between 1904 and 1907, two young journalists called Bertram Fletcher Robinson ('Bobbles') and PG Wodehouse ('Plum') co-authored four satirical playlets together - each is a lampooning review of the previous year's news. These works were originally published in the "Daily Express", "Vanity Fair" and "The World". Robinson (1870-1907) had previously assisted Arthur Conan Doyle with "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1901) and also enjoyed some success with his own fictional detective, Addington Peace (1904-1905). Later, Wodehouse (1881-1975) would achieve worldwide acclaim for his series of stories and books that feature both Reginald Jeeves and Bertram Wilberforce Wooster (1915-1974). Now all four Robinson/Wodehouse playlets are reavailable for the first time in this aptly named anthology, "Bobbles & Plum". This book provides the reader with a fascinating glimpse into the evolving mind of two of the finest young humorists of their generation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An Interesting & Enjoyable Publication
The core of the book is the re-publication of four playlets written by Wodehouse and Bertram Fletcher Robinson from 1903 to 1906. The book opens with a short eulogy to Robinson on his death in 1907 written by Jessie Pope (whom Wodehouse also knew) followed by a Foreword by Hilary Bruce [Chairman of the P G Wodehouse Society (UK)]. There is then a thirteen-page introduction by Norman Murphy and Tony Ring which summarises the careers of the two men, hypothesises on their meeting during the 'Parrot Poems' craze and discusses their subsequent collaboration in the playlets and Robinson's commissioning short stories from Wodehouse.

We then get the four playlets which deal with the political and social events of the time that everybody talked about. There was some comment in 'The Observer' newspaper on Wodehouse being 'political' (26 July 2009), but the writer of this article had not realised that, from the time Wodehouse got work on 'The Globe' in 1903, that was his job. He had to turn out a humorous column each day on what was topical and, in the early 1900s, that meant Chamberlain and Tariff Reform, the split among the Conservatives and Liberals over Tariffs and Home Rule for Ireland, Suffragettes, the activities - and expenditure - of the new London County Council, the Entente Cordiale and Gaiety Girls marrying into the aristocracy.

It may seem all very dated today. Of course it is but, if you have read 'The Parrot and Other Poems', you will already have a feel for the period. In any event, the playlets (49 pages in total) are followed by 36 pages of explanatory notes.

An interesting, enjoyable publication though slightly marred by occasional typos including, I regret to say, 'Woodhouse' for Wodehouse.

Clever, Witty & Funny...
The following review was written by Roger Johnson and published in The District Messenger: The Newsletter of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London (Issue 295, July 2009):

The latest fruits of Paul Spiring's research are found in Bobbles and Plum: Four Satirical Playlets by Bertram Fletcher Robinson and P G Wodehouse (MX Publishing Ltd, 335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive, London N11 1JN; £9.99 or $16.95).The play, never intended for performance, appeared variously in the Daily Express, Vanity Fair and The World between 1903 and 1907.They're part of the tradition of satire that continues today, and though they date from a more respectful era they aim some pretty sharp darts at the politicians.Moreover, they're clever, well-written, and funny.The full annotations help us appreciate just how clever they are, and how harmoniously the two authors worked together.Wodehouse was just starting a career that would last another seventy years.Robinson's career was about to be cut short.Who can say what he might have achieved?

Glowing Five Stars from The Bookbag
As a fan of Wodehouse this book was a real treat. The Bookbag's review sums it up perfectly for me so here it is in full.

"P.G. Wodehouse needs little if any introduction, but Bertram Fletcher Robinson's life and career were cut short and he is little known outside his connections with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This set of satirical playlets on which they collaborated, published in journals between 1904 and 1907 and virtually forgotten since, are presented in book form for the first time. As such they show how the careers of both men were evolving, particularly while Wodehouse was finding his feet and experimenting with the different facets of journalism before finding his niche in comic fiction.

The playlets were, I suppose, a kind of gentle Edwardian forerunner of 'That Was The Week That Was' and 'Have I Got News For You'. Their poking at the establishment of the day is naturally somewhat lost on the audience or readership of a century later, but to anyone with some historical or political knowledge of the contemporary issues (mainly the matter of tariff reform, which helped sweep the Liberals to a landslide election victory in 1906), it cuts quite sharp.

We are also reminded that the wit of Savoy Opera librettist W.S. Gilbert was a major influence on the young Wodehouse, as one of the lyrics, 'The Ploughman's Song' A wandering ploughman I, makes plain. The commentaries on the plays take up about half the book. They fill in the biographical background of both men well, making clear that even as a young man Wodehouse was quite old-fashioned in his tastes, having no time for modern art, modern poetry and contemporary trends in theatrical writing. Good old unpretentious entertainment rather than the groundbreaking drama of Ibsen, Shaw and others was more his line. He was also relatively apolitical, and the dialogue was left to Robinson, while Wodehouse was basically the librettist (somehow, calling him a songwriter doesn't quite ring true).

As for the playlets themselves, 'A Fiscal Pantomime: The Sleeping Beauty' is a skit on the political situation brought about by Joseph Chamberlain and fellow supporters of the Tariff Reform League, which helped to split the Conservative party of the day. 'Our Christmas Pantomime: Little Red Riding Hood' satirises the breakdown of Victorian values during the reign of Edward VII. (In the 1960s, Robinson and Wodehouse would have had little time for 'the permissive society'). 'A Winter's Tale: King Arthur and his Court' makes fun of the political groups opposing Arthur Balfour, the Prime Minister, during late 1905, while 'The Progressive's Progress - Some Memories of 1906' satirises the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France of 1904, and the growing increase in expenditure by the London County Council, that alarmed a number of Londoners.

What goes around comes around, and they say history often repeats itself. For tariff reform and Entente Cordiale, read European Union, for example. This book does not just throw an interesting spotlight on the early careers of two young authors, one semi-forgotten and one a household name, but also reminds us that political satire is nothing new. The commentaries and annotations are first class.

As a piece of historical and literary scholarship, I can't fault it at all". ... Read more