Three Men in a Boat

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859 - 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat and several other novels. Jerome was inspired by his older sister Blandina's love for the theatre and he decided to try his hand at acting in 1877, under the stage name Harold Crichton. He joined a repertory troupe that produced plays on a shoestring budget, often drawing on the actors' own meager resources - Jerome was penniless at the time - to purchase costumes and props. After three years on the road with no evident success, the 21-year-old Jerome decided that he had enough of stage life and sought other occupations. He tried to become a journalist, writing essays, satires and short stories, but most of these were rejected. Over the next few years, he was a school teacher, a packer and a solicitor's clerk. Finally, in 1885, he had some success with On the Stage - and Off (1885), a comic memoir of his experiences with the acting troupe, followed by Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886), a collection of humorous essays which had previously appeared in the newly founded magazine, Home Chimes, the same magazine that would later serialize Three Men in a Boat.

"Wonderfully fresh and funny, and among examples of Victorian humour I would place it high in the pantheon, right up there with The Importance of Being Earnest and The Diary of a Nobody... Jerome's writing... triumphantly stands the test of time, with its comic flights of exaggeration, its occasional archness, and its entirely innocent hint of the camp."
—Daily Telegraph

"A charming comedy of friendship and human nature."
—Independent


From the Hardcover edition.
"Wonderfully fresh and funny, and among examples of Victorian humour I would place it high in the pantheon, right up there with The Importance of Being Earnest and The Diary of a Nobody...Jerome's writing...triumphantly stands the test of time, with its comic flights of exaggeration, its occasional archness, and its entirely innocent hint of the camp" Daily Telegraph "A charming comedy of friendship and human nature" Independent "One of the funniest books I've ever read. I laughed out loud and that doesn't happen often" -- Vic Reeves Daily Express "Brought laughter to a country in the throes of Victorian gloom" The Times "As well as being very funny, it captures the innocence of a time before adventure became synonymous with bungee jumping into ravines in faraway places" Observer