Humour

Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven

Mark Twain

This piece is a whimsical satire that imagines a dead captain’s after‑life as a space‑faring adventure.

Ebrietatis Encomium or, the Praise of Drunkenness

Albert-Henri de Sallengre

Albert‑Henri de Sallengre’s Ebrietatis Encomium, first published in 1714 as Eloge de l’Yvresse and later…

500 of the Best Cockney War Stories

Various

The volume is a collection of personal narratives and anecdotes drawn from the First World War, assembled…

The Tatler, Volume 2

Steele, Richard, Sir; Addison, Joseph

The Tatler, Volume 2 gathers the witty essays and occasional letters that Sir Richard Steele and Joseph…

The Foolish Dictionary An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use, confused by a few pictures [not included]

Gideon Wurdz

The Foolish Dictionary presents itself as a tongue‑in‑cheek reference work that tackles only a modest…

The humour of Russia

The work presents a scholarly survey of Russian comic literature, opening with an essay that argues humor is…

The humour of Italy

The book opens with a scholarly defence of Italian humour, countering the claim that it died with Ariosto.

The Big Trip Up Yonder

Kurt Vonnegut

The piece is a science‑fiction short story that opens in a cramped, over‑populated future apartment where a…

Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists

Washington Irving

Washington Irving’s Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists is a series of sketches that present the customs and…

The humour of Spain.

Tales and Novels — Volume 04

Maria Edgeworth

The work is a self‑styled memoir that presents the history of the Rackrent family through the eyes of Thady…

Nonsense Novels

Stephen Leacock

Stephen Leacock’s Nonsense Novels offers a parody of detective fiction that begins with a chaotic tableau of…

Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story

Sir Max Beerbohm

Max Beerbohm’s Zuleika Dobson is a comic romance set amid the ritualised world of Oxford University.

Misalliance

Bernard Shaw

Misalliance is a late‑Victorian English drama that opens in the spacious, glass‑enclosed pavilion of Johnny…

Scientific American magazine Vol 2. No. 3 Oct 10 1846 The Advocate of Industry and Journal of Scientific, Mechanical and Other Improvements

Various

Scientific American’s second volume, third number, dated October 10 1846, presents itself as a bustling…

The True History of Tom & Jerry or, The Day and Night Scenes, of Life in London from the Start to the Finish!

Hindley, Charles; Egan, Pierce; Moncrieff, W. T.

The work is a sprawling, eighteenth‑century‑style compendium that mixes humorous verse, street‑level…

The Adventures of Sally

P. G. Wodehouse

The story opens at a bustling farewell dinner in Mrs. Meecher’s boarding‑house, where the young hostess Sally…

Burlesque Plays and Poems

This volume is a survey of English burlesque, gathering together poems and stage pieces that lampoon the…

William Wycherley [Four Plays]

William Wycherley

William Wycherley’s Four Plays presents the quintessential Restoration comedy, a genre that blossomed after…

Peck's Sunshine Being a Collection of Articles Written for Peck's Sun, Milwaukee, Wis. - 1882

George W. Peck

Peck’s Sunshine is a 19th‑century miscellany drawn from the pages of the Milwaukee newspaper Peck’s Sun,…

The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll

H. G. Wells

The work is a late‑Victorian novel that blends social observation with a light‑hearted cycling adventure.

History of English Humour, Vol. 2

A. G. K. L'Estrange

The work is a scholarly survey of English wit and humor, written by A. G. K. L’Estrange.

Europe Revised

Irvin S. Cobb

Europe Revised is a whimsical travelogue that masquerades as a guidebook, written by Irvin S.

Out of the Hurly-Burly; Or, Life in an Odd Corner

Charles Heber Clark

Out of the Hurly‑Burly is a humor‑filled collection of American short sketches and anecdotes by Charles Heber…