Free summaries
Humour — page 5
265 public-domain humour books, summarised. Page 5 of 6.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 18, July 30, 1870
Various
A satirical weekly from post-Civil War New York, this periodical captures the raucous, biting wit of a city in the midst of rapid social and political transition. It serves as a vivid time capsule of late 19th-century American humor.
The First Distiller
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
A simple peasant is tempted by a demon who discovers that abundance, not scarcity, is the true path to human ruin. This morality play serves as a piercing, dark fable on the corruption of the soul through excess.
The Punster's Pocket-book
C. M. (Charles Molloy) Westmacott
This exuberant collection serves as a nineteenth-century manifesto for the art of the pun, treating wordplay not as a low-brow annoyance, but as a sophisticated hallmark of a truly nimble and educated mind.
The Torch-Bearers: A Satirical Comedy in Three Acts
George Kelly
A suburban husband returns home to find his wife has been swept into the chaotic, self-important world of amateur theater. He soon discovers that the most dangerous role his wife plays is the one she performs in their living room.
Playful Poems
Unknown
This collection gathers centuries of verse, bridging the gap between medieval narrative and the sharp, witty storytelling of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It offers a portal into a tradition of rhythmic, playful, and often biting English literature.
Talkies
Eddie Cantor
The sudden arrival of sound in motion pictures destroys the last refuge of urban silence, transforming quiet picture houses into noisy arenas where every door, appliance, and screen actor clamors to be heard.
Up in Maine: Stories of Yankee Life Told in Verse
Holman Day
Bare-knuckled humor, rustic ironies, and timber-town tragedies converge in a spirited poetic portrait of turn-of-the-century rural New England.
Fair to Look Upon
Mary Belle Freeley
A cheeky, lighthearted reappraisal of Old Testament heroines, framing biblical history as an unbroken tradition of feminine independence and male compliance.
Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 31, October 29, 1870
Various
A bustling slice of post-Civil War American satire captures a nation wrestling with political corruption, European conflict, and its own chaotic cultural identity.
The Story of an Ostrich: An Allegory and Humorous Satire in Rhyme
I. J. Potter
A self-absorbed ostrich attempts to destroy his own feet after mistaking them for alien parasites.
Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 36, December 3, 1870
Various
Packed with Gilded Age satire, broad caricatures, and theatrical skits, this period humor magazine captures the irreverent spirit, political anxieties, and popular culture of late nineteenth-century urban America.
Short Cruises
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
In a landscape of muddy dockyards, quiet country inns, and cluttered parlor rooms, ordinary people scheme for modest advantage and invariably pull their own ground out from under themselves.
Skilled Assistance: Ship's Company, Part 9
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
A night-watchman’s scheming attempt to rescue an aging sailor’s prospective father-in-law from a relentless suitor backfires spectacularly in this sharp, comic tale of waterfront trickery.
Flaxius
Charles Godfrey Leland
An immortal Etruscan wanders through the centuries, offering sharp-witted counsel to historic figures, demons, and ordinary mortals alike while observing humanity’s slow and unpredictable evolution.
Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 27, October 1, 1870
Various
A satirical lens turned upon nineteenth-century American life captures a boisterous mix of parody, political ribbing, and local color.
That Mother-in-Law of Mine
Anonymous
An uneasy groom, a formidable matriarch, and a household teetering on the edge of quiet domestic warfare.
And All the Earth a Grave
C. C. MacApp
A simple accounting glitch triggers a hyper-aggressive advertising campaign that successfully markets coffins as the ultimate luxury item, driving humanity to voluntarily lie down and die.
Freudian Slip
Franklin Abel
When the physical world vanishes, a psychoanalyst is recruited by celestial bureaucrats to treat the amnesiac deity responsible for the Earth’s existence, leading to a race against a cosmic deadline.
Southerly Busters
George Herbert Gibson
A collection of colonial wit, this volume captures the rough-and-tumble spirit of late nineteenth-century Australia through satirical verse and prose sketches. It offers a candid, irreverent look at bush life, urban pretension, and the absurdities of the era.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 102, May 7, 1892
Various
The biting, whimsical spirit of late Victorian London comes to life in this collection of satire, political commentary, and social observation. It captures a society at once self-important and deeply absurd.
A Truthful Woman in Southern California
Kate Sanborn
A candid, practical guide from the late nineteenth century, this work serves as an essential manual for those seeking health and sunshine in the burgeoning settlements of Southern California.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, December 18, 1841
Various
This issue of a fledgling satirical periodical captures the frantic, clever, and cynical spirit of early Victorian London. It serves as a boisterous window into a world of medical students, bored officers, and political schemers.
Salmagundi
Washington Irving
This collection of satirical essays serves as a sharp, spirited mirror held up to early 19th-century New York. It blends sophisticated urban observation with a playful, self-deprecating affection for the absurdities of social life.
The Money Box: Odd Craft, Part 1
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Sailors at sea may dream of thrift, but the shore brings a different reality. This story follows two impulsive men who entrust their wages to a "steady" comrade, only to find that good intentions make for a precarious prison.
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Mack Reynolds
In a city of exiles and fugitives, two strangers share a drink and a casual conversation that strips away the veneer of humanity. This brief encounter reveals the true, chilling nature of their mission on Earth.
Pussy and Her Language
Marvin R. Clark
The cat is a creature of deep intelligence and singular grace, whose silent companionship masks a sophisticated, musical language awaiting human discovery.
Stories of Comedy
Unknown
This collection of nineteenth-century narratives showcases the quick-witted, often absurd, and deeply human spirit of British and Irish storytelling. It invites readers to laugh at the folly of pride and the unpredictability of life.
Sugar Plum
Reginald Bretnor
In a future obsessed with the stuffy rigidity of a second Victorian Age, a wealthy couple flees their stifling Boston life to homestead a distant, forgotten planet. They soon discover that this new world has a way of stripping away their social pretenses.
The Further Adventures of O'Neill in Holland
J. Irwin (John Irwin) Brown
The linguistic blunders of an Irishman abroad serve as the catalyst for an unlikely romance, proving that even the most disastrous grasp of a foreign tongue can lead to unexpected, life-altering connections.
The spoil'd child: A farce, in two acts, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Isaac Bickerstaff
A mischievous boy turns his household upside down with elaborate pranks, only to find that his father’s attempts to discipline him through trickery lead to a chaotic battle of wits.
The Jumble Book of Rhymes: Recited by the Jumbler
Frank R. Heine
This collection of lighthearted, occasional verse captures the spirit of a man navigating the joys and absurdities of early 20th-century American life. It is an unpretentious, conversational work that treats its own lack of high-mindedness as its primary virtue.
More Minor Horrors
Shipley, A. E. (Arthur Everett), Sir
A quiet study of the tiny, persistent creatures that plague human industry, livestock, and health, written with equal parts zoological precision and wry, humane observation.
Jonathan and His Continent: Rambles Through American Society
Max O'Rell
This sharp, witty nineteenth-century travelogue views the bustling energy of Gilded Age America through the charmingly skeptical eyes of a cultured French observer.
Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, January 30, 1892
Various
A panoramic look at late-Victorian British society, capturing the anxieties, hypocrisies, and absurdities of a nation caught between tradition and modern friction.
Bob's Redemption: Captains All, Book 5
W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
When a calculating sailor tries to trade a rescue for his crewmate's fiancée, he gets a hilarious lesson in East End justice. W. W. Jacobs turns the dockside barque into a stage for human folly.
Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 32, November 5, 1870
Various
This nineteenth-century American humor periodical delivers a sharp, theatrical snapshot of Reconstruction-era urban satire, blending parodies of popular literature with barbed commentary on Gilded Age society, politics, and press rivalries.
The Autobiography of a Monkey
Albert Bigelow Paine
Born in the deep shadows of an African forest, a bright young monkey is tricked into leaving his native tree-tops, embarking on an extraordinary journey through human society before ultimately returning home as a fully civilized leader.
Winsome Winnie and other New Nonsense Novels
Stephen Leacock
A sharp needle of satire punctures the absurdities of popular fiction, puncturing overblown romance, imperial anxieties, and detective cliches.
Yorkshire Ditties, Second Series: To which is added The Cream of Wit and Humour
John Hartley
Hard work, tight budgets, and local pride shape life in the industrial North.
Impertinent Poems
Edmund Vance Cooke
Every hypocrite eventually meets his match in the mirror, where self-delusion melts into sharp, humorous self-awareness.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, February 18, 1893
Various
A lively slice of Victorian satirical journalism captures a week in late-nineteenth-century London, skewering political posturing, theatrical melodrama, and fashionable social anxieties with sharp comic verse and theatrical parodies.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, August 8, 1891
Various
A sharp, affectionate mirror held up to Victorian society, this single issue captures late-nineteenth-century London in all its noisy, opinionated, and absurd glory.
The Nature Faker
Richard Harding Davis
A wealthy idealist buys three vaudeville bears to liberate them on his estate, only to discover that wild nature cannot easily undo a lifetime of show business.
Skookum Chuck Fables: Bits of History, Through the Microscope
R. D. (Robert Dalziel) Cumming
A dry, sardonic eye peers through the damp mists of British Columbia to document the foibles of pioneers, rogues, and ordinary dreamers struggling for a foothold.
The Merman and the Figure-Head
Clara F. (Clara Florida) Guernsey
A enchanted sea-creature mistakes a merchant ship's wooden figurehead for a living ocean goddess, giving up his sea home to follow an unrequited, wooden love around the globe.
Why Marry?
Jesse Lynch Williams
A bright, fiercely intelligent young woman refuses to marry the scientist she loves, arguing that legal matrimony will destroy their equality and his career—setting off a weekend of hysterical panic among her traditional family.
A Bold Stroke for a Husband: A Comedy in Five Acts
Hannah Cowley
A spirited comedy of manners set in Spain, this play follows two women navigating the constraints of marriage and courtship with wit, disguise, and strategic subversion.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 10, June 4, 1870
Various
Street smarts, political posturing, and nineteenth-century commercial hustle clash in a sharp-witted weekly that captures New York City at a moment of rapid transformation.