Showing results by author "F. Anstey" in All Categories

The pompous businessman Paul Bultitude is farewelling his son who is about to set off for his first year at boarding school. Due to the action of a magical stone, the personalities of each are switched into the body of the other. The businessman is forced to relive the experiences of his schoolboy days and the boy takes charge of his father's business.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels and humorous short stories under the pseudonym F. Anstey. 'At a Moment's Notice' is the amusing tale of a young man who is involved in a cab accident on Pall Mall. When he comes to after the crash, he has mysteriously been transformed into an organ grinder's monkey. His adventures in his new state are extraordinary and hilarious.

A delightful collection of light-hearted classic stories from some of the greatest Victorian and Edwardian-era writers.

A superb anthology of 40 great classic humorous stories.

The Brass Bottle is the story of an architect who bought an antique brass bottle to give to a professor dealing in Mideast antiquities. After the purchase, the architect’s curiosity was aroused, and he removed the stopper in the bottle. And when he did, a big cloud of smoke was released, producing a major surprise when a genie emerged. His name was Fakrash el-Aamash, and he turned out to be a fairy-tale-type character who wound up trying to repay the architect, Horace Ventimore, for giving him release from what amounted to a brass prison.

Mark Ashburn is a young teacher at St. Peter's Public School for boys, although he isn't particularly fond of boys. His dream is to make his name in the literary world but mediocrity and rejection meet him at every turn. Dejected, he meets up with Vincent, an old friend, who is about to travel to his father's plantation in Ceylon and asks a favor of Mark. Mark makes a rash promise to help, never suspecting anything would ever be required of him. Backed into a corner, he makes a decision that affects his and others' lives forever.

The estimable gentleman, Chunder Bindabun Bhosh, ESQ., B.A., travels from his native India to England, with his impeccable English and manners, which immediately mark him as a foreigner, and embarks on an enviable program of escapades. These stories are the product of the fertile imagination of Hurry Bungsho Jabberjee, B.A., a nom de plume for the humorist F. Anstey, which is a further nom de plume for Thomas Anstey Guthrie. Whether rescuing a nubile maiden from a charging bull or falling in love with said nubile maiden, Mr. Bosh, B. A. cannot help but perform with the requisite humor to ...

F. Anstey was the nom de plume of Thomas Anstey Guthrie, a Londoner who was trained for the bar but found success as a writer of humorous pieces for Punch and humorous novels. Mr. Punch's Model Music Hall is a collection of humorous pieces written for Punch, divided into songs and dramas. In his usual fashion, Mr. Anstey captured the tone of his times and then exaggerated whatever was already absurd to entertain and give pointed commentary at the same time. - Summary by Don W. Jenkins

Another delightful example of an English writer poking fun at his countrymen, or maybe all races' reactions to someone from a different background. A series of adventures of a well educated foreigner in London which originally appeared weekly in Punch, sometimes with illustrations, dealing with the difficulties of fully understanding a different culture. The hero's perfect English reminds one of a quote from "My Fair Lady" ..."His English is too good, he said, "that clearly indicates that he is Foreign. Whereas other people are instructed in their native language English people aren't." (...

Delve into the whimsical and satirical realm of theater with "Mr. Punch's Pocket Ibsen," where classic tragedies are playfully transformed into comic parodies. This podcast invites listeners to explore the intricate interplay between humor and drama, as it presents a rotating collection of adaptations that poke fun at the solemnity of Ibsen's original works. Each episode features a new complete audiobook, offering a fresh take on themes of societal norms, personal struggle, and the absurdities of human nature, all while maintaining a lighthearted tone. This is not a single story but a series ...

Mark Ashburn is a young teacher at St. Peter's Public School for boys, although he isn't particularly fond of boys. His dream is to make his name in the literary world, but mediocrity and rejection meet him at every turn. Dejected, he meets up with Vincent, an old friend, who is about to travel to his father's plantation in Ceylon and asks a favor of Mark.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels and humorous short stories under the pseudonym F. Anstey. 'A Bohemian Bag' is the story of a piece of luggage with a perverse mind of its own. The Gladstone bag in question goes on its own travels every time it is left in the care of a railway porter or station master...usually catching up with its hapless owner only days later.

'Sparkling Biacrene' is a humorous story about a young chemist who invents a marvellous new type of nonalcoholic drink based on a marvellous Amazonian herb with astounding properties. He names his invention 'Sparkling Biacrene' and excitedly invites his uncle to dinner with his employer and a manufacturer of soda waters to discuss the commercial potential of the drink.

A sumptuous collection of over 60 short stories by some of the world's greatest writers. 'The Hoop' by Fedor Sologub, 'The Last Leaf' by O. Henry, 'The Man Who Hated Aspidistras' by W. F. Harvey, 'The Conjurer' by Richard Middleton, 'The End of a Show' by Barry Pain, 'The Devil of the Marsh' by H. B. Marriott-Watson, 'The First of April' by A. J. Alan, 'The Everlasting Club' by Arthur Gray, 'The Apple Tree' by Katherine Mansfield.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels and humorous short stories under the pseudonym F. Anstey.This collection presents six of his most popular and well known tales: 'The Talking Horse', 'The Black Poodle', 'An Undergraduate's Aunt', 'The Gull', 'Caveat Emptor', 'Mrs. Brassington-Claypott's Children's Party'.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey. 'Mrs. Brassington-Claypott's Children's Party' is a humorous tale of a family trying to keep up with their social set in hosting a children's party. Ambitious and snobbish but somewhat restricted financially, Mrs. Brassington-Claypott agrees to her maid's recommendation of a conjurer with whom she is acquainted....

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey. 'Caveat Emptor' is a humorous story of a bric-a-brac collector who finds an antique shop in a little German town which appears to be selling the most extraordinary treasures at rock-bottom prices.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934) was an English novelist and journalist who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey. "The Gull" is a strange tale about a man whose sweetheart, on setting sail for Guernsey one evening, romantically promises him that if she should die, she will return to him as a white dove. Next morning he awakes to find a large grey gull has flown into his bedroom overnight....

A delightful collection of humorous classic tales by some of the world's greatest racconteurs.

When P.G. Wodehouse wrote: "It is no use telling me there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core they are all alike. Sooner or later out pops the cloven hoof." he might as well have been describing poor Francis Flushington's dilemma.