Book description
To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read
This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage
Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to
tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books.
THE DIARY OF A NOBODY
Mr Charles Pooter is a respectable man. He has just moved into a
very desirable home in Holloway with his dear wife Carrie, from where
he commutes to his job of valued clerk at a reputable bank in the
City. Unfortunately neither his dear friends Mr Cummings and Mr
Gowing, nor the butcher, the greengrocer's boy, nor the Lord Mayor
seem to recognise Mr Pooter's innate gentility, and his disappointing
son Lupin has gone and got himself involved with a most unsuitable fiancee...
George and Weedon Grossmith's comic novel, perfectly illustrated by
Weedon, is a glorious, affectionate caricature of the English
middle-class at the end of nineteenth century.
THREE MEN IN A BOAT
ILLUSTRATED BY VIC REEVES
What could be more relaxing than a refreshing holiday on the river
with your two best friends and faithful canine companion, Montmorency?
However, as J. discovers, there is more to life on the waves than
meets the eye - including navigational challenges, culinary disasters,
and heroic battles with swans, kettles and tins of pineapple. Jerome
K. Jerome's delightful novel has kept readers smiling for years and
his prose has found a perfect partner in Vic Reeves's glorious and
witty illustrations.
George and Weedon Grossmith were born in London in 1847 and
1852 respectively to a theatrical family who were friends with Henry
Irving and Ellen Terry. George became a popular composer and performer
of comic songs as well as a successful actor. Weedon trained as a
painter at the Slade and the Royal Academy, but soon turned to acting
like his brother. The Diary of a Nobody began life as a series
of columns the brothers wrote together for Punch which they later
expanded into a novel. It was published in 1892, with Weedon's
illustrations, to instant acclaim and has remained in print ever
since. George died in 1912, followed by his brother in 1919.
Jerome Klapka Jerome was born in Walsall on 2 May 1859 and
brought up in East London. After his father died, Jerome left school
at fourteen and worked as a railway clerk, actor, journalist and
teacher. In 1885 he published On the Stage - and Off which was
followed in 1886 by Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. In 1888
Jerome married Georgina Stanley and a year later he published his most
famous work, Three Men in a Boat. The sequel, Three Men on
the Bummel, appeared in 1900. Jerome also wrote several other
novels, plays, stories and autobiographical writings, edited The
Idler and Today magazines and, during the First World War,
worked for the French ambulance service. Jerome K. Jerome died on 14
June 1927.
