The New Book of Nonsense: Contribution to the Great Central Fair in Aid of the Sanitary Commission

In Short

This collection of nonsense verse serves as a historical curiosity, originally compiled to support the Sanitary Commission during the American Civil War. Through a series of limericks, it profiles an array of odd characters—from the vain socialite to the stubbornly eccentric—who occupy a space somewhere between the mundane and the impossible. While the humor is rooted in the specific linguistic quirks and social anxieties of the nineteenth century, it survives as a testament to the period’s desire to find levity and charitable purpose amidst the grim realities of conflict.

The Story

The narrative arc of this volume is not one of linear plot, but rather a panoramic portrait of a society engaged in a collective act of distraction. We are introduced to an endless procession of figures who inhabit a world defined by the "Great Central Fair." Each verse functions as a brief, self-contained vignette, stripping away the pretenses of its subject to reveal a singular, often ridiculous, obsession or misfortune.

The journey begins in the domestic sphere, where young ladies in Trenton or Boston navigate the absurd pressures of fashion and social expectation. We see the "young lady of Cork" attempting to eat soup with a fork to maintain her figure, and the "young lady of Lynn" relying on a false bust to navigate social standards. As we move through the pages, the tone shifts from light social satire to the harsher realities of the era. The book ventures into the political and regional tensions of the day, featuring characters from Kentucky, Georgia, and Carlisle. Here, the nonsense takes on a sharper edge; the "young lass of Kentucky" drummed her secessionist suitor from her home, while other verses reflect the brutal realities of slavery and the ongoing war, often through a lens that modern readers will find jarring and deeply uncomfortable.

As the collection progresses, the settings expand to include the global and the mythological. We encounter an old king of Dahomey, an old man at the Niger, and a lady of Venezuela, all of whom are governed by their own peculiar logic. The "Nonsense Book" itself is positioned as a sanctuary within the Fair, a place where the committee invites the reader to escape the "innocent stranger" and the exhausting demands of the world outside. The progression concludes not with a resolution of character, but with a return to the Fair itself. The final verses focus on the artists, painters, and attendees of the event, grounding the preceding chaos in the specific context of the charitable effort. By the end, the reader has traversed a landscape of human folly, from the "prodigious young fop" to the "bold preacher named Bellows," ultimately finding that the only way to endure the absurdity of the world is to laugh at the very people who populate it.

How It Unfolds

The domestic eccentric The book opens with a parade of social misfits, such as the lady of Trenton bent on marriage and the woman of Boston discourse-obsessed. These figures establish a pattern of behavior where individual vanity is met with immediate, usually comical, consequence.

The regional satire The focus shifts to the geography of the American landscape, highlighting the tensions of the era. Characters from Kentucky, Georgia, and Maine are defined by their regional loyalties and their clashing interactions with the "male sect" or political dissidents.

The global traveler The scope broadens to include characters from across the globe, from the Niger to Venezuela and Rome. These verses maintain the structure of the limerick while placing their subjects in increasingly absurd and often fatal situations.

The Fair as a stage The narrative returns to the central motif of the Sanitary Commission’s Fair. It frames the collection as a performance, with painters and committee members inviting the reader to observe the spectacle of the event itself.

The People

The cast is a vast, revolving collection of archetypes rather than deep, evolving protagonists. The "Old Maid of Trenton" represents the single-minded pursuit of social standing, her identity consumed entirely by her desire to marry. In contrast, figures like the "young person of Boston" represent the intellectual vanity of the period, discoursing on cause and effect without ever achieving self-awareness.

The "young lass of Kentucky" stands apart as a figure of agency, asserting her personal loyalty against the political strife that threatens her home. She is one of the few characters who makes a definitive choice, acting decisively to purge her life of the "secesh" influence. Meanwhile, the "bold preacher named Bellows" acts as an anchor for the collection’s purpose, representing the organized effort to improve the conditions of the soldiers. He is the personification of the industry required to keep the Fair—and the war effort—afloat. Other characters, like the "young girl of Quebec" or the "prodigious young fop," serve as warnings, their fates determined by their inability to see past their own clothing or social performance. They remain static, trapped in the rigidity of their own choosing, while the reader is left to observe their eventual, and usually hilarious, undoing.

In Its Own Voice

The collection’s humor often hinges on the unexpected juxtaposition of the mundane and the catastrophic, as seen in this brief tale of a man with a dangerous hobby:

There was an odd man of Woonsocket, who carried bomb-shells in his pocket; Endeavoring to cough one day-they went off, and of course, up he went like a rocket.

The book frequently uses these verses to mock the social rigidity of the time, such as this account of a young woman’s fashion choices:

"Oh! the fashion's quite recent" Said this vulgar young girl of Quebec.

What It's Really About

At its core, this book is an exploration of the performative nature of Victorian society. It questions the value of social markers—hair, fashion, manners, and regional identity—by placing them in the mouths of fools. The recurring theme is the gap between how a person wishes to be perceived and the reality of their behavior. Beneath the humor lies an argument for adaptability; those who cling too tightly to their status, their appearance, or their prejudices are inevitably "strangled" or "boiled down," while those who can laugh at themselves find a way to navigate the chaos of their world. It is a cynical, yet remarkably lighthearted, look at how fragile the structures of "polite society" really are.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the rhythmic, biting wit of Edward Lear will find a kindred spirit here. The book functions as a time capsule, offering an unfiltered view of the anxieties and social prejudices of the mid-nineteenth century. However, one must be prepared for the book's period-specific attitudes; there are moments of casual, cruel racism in the descriptions of characters from Dahomey or Georgia that reflect the ugly reality of the era’s discourse. The humor is often dark and occasionally unsettling, serving as a reminder that what we find funny is deeply tethered to our own cultural moment.

To read this today is to engage with a historical artifact that does not apologize for its tone. It is not a gentle read, but it is a sharp one. It stays with you not because of any profound wisdom, but because of the sheer, relentless energy of its absurdity. You will find yourself returning to the image of the man in the boat waiting for a flood, or the lady eating soup with a fork, as symbols of the human tendency to persist in irrational behavior regardless of the circumstances. It is a challenging, sometimes jarring, but ultimately fascinating look at how a society uses humor to mask its deepest traumas.