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Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, Vol 1, No. 11, August, 1920

W. H. Fawcett
"Captain Billy's Whiz Bang" was an iconic magazine of wit and humor launched by W.H. Fawcett in 1919. Each 64-page issue was packed with jokes, quips, and humorous bits of writing. Each year it grew in popularity, and Fawcett’s success lead to the formation of the well-known Fawcett Publications, which issued Whiz Comics and introduced Captain Marvel. The magazine was immortalized in a line in the song “Trouble” from Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man.”
Old New York

Edith Wharton
Old New York (1924) is a collection of four novellas (False Dawn; The Old Maid; The Spark; New Year's Day) by Edith Wharton, revolving around upper-class New York City society in the 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s.
Gigolo

Edna Ferber
Gigolo is a collection of short stories by Edna Ferber, best known for her novels Show Boat and So Big (for which she won the Pulitzer Prize).

Like most of her works, these stories take place in the heart of the country – the Midwest, from Illinois to Oklahoma. Her protagonists range from a twenty-something auto mechanic to a woman who finds herself “suddenly sixty.” In these stories we meet many strong women facing – and generally conquering – difficult circumstances. (“Having made the worst of it, you made the best of it,” she writes in The Sudden Sixties, one of the stories in this collection.) But she write also of men’s struggles with the rapidly changing social politics of the early 1900’s, showing how various characters resist, but ultimately move with a time in which women are gaining unprecedented power and influence of women from the home to the workplace.

Her stories are about real people; her characters are familiar to the reader, even a century after she created them. Her writing is clear, crisp, emotionally evocative, and always humorous.
Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Vol 2

Thomas Lansing Masson
Volume 2 of a ten volume collection of amusing tales, observations and anecdotes by America's greatest wordsmiths. This work includes selections by such household favorites as Ambrose Bierce, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain and Bret Harte.
Winsome Winnie and other New Nonsense Novels

Leacock, Stephen
Eight silly stories by Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock.
Marriage, volume 1

Susan Edmonstoune Ferrier
"Love!--A word by superstition thought a God; by use turned to an humour; by self-will made a flattering madness." - Alexander and Campaspe.

Lady Juliana, the indulged and coddled seventeen ("And a half, papa") year old daughter of the Earl of Cortland, is betrothed by her father to a wealthy old Duke who can give her every luxury. She instead runs away and marries her very handsome but penniless lover. Very soon, they are forced to travel to Scotland to live with his quirky family in a rundown "castle" in the barren wilderness. Can this marriage survive?
Autumn Leaves, Original Pieces in Prose and Verse

Abbot, Anna Wales
The pieces gathered into this volume were, with two exceptions, written for the entertainment of a private circle, without any view to publication. The editor would express her thanks to the writers, who, at her solicitation, have allowed them to be printed. They are published with the hope of aiding a work of charity,—the establishment of an Agency for the benefit of the poor in Cambridge,—to which the proceeds of the sale will be devoted.
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Nothing But the Truth

Frederic Stewart Isham
A young man, finding himself unexpectedly impecunious, attempts to improve his fortunes by wagering that he can speak nothing but the absolute truth for three weeks. He soon learns, however, that telling only the unvarnished truth can have surprising consequences. This 1914 novel of love, mystery, and misunderstandings, with amusing characters and plot twists, was adapted as a Broadway play in 1916, followed by six motion pictures: in 1920 and 1929; in 1931 separately in Spanish, French and German; and in 1941 starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. Frederic S. Isham was a writer of short stories, novels and plays. (Lee Smalley)
Stories by English Authors: London

F. Anstey
This book collects seven short stories by some of England's best turn-of-the-(last)-century's writers. The collection begins with the humor of J. M. Barrie, of Peter Pan fame. A later and equally humorous story is by Israel Zangwill, also widely known for his exposures of social and economic problems. The immensely popular Marie Corelli’s contribution is the last, and among the most moving. (NB: Though a less prominent writer than some represented here, Corelli was so popular that her literary sales exceeded those of Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells and Rudyard Kipling – combined.)
In short, these writers offer great variety as to style, tone and topic, ranging from breezy tales to poignant proofs of the kindness and grace that can underlie the deepest tragedies. But while diverse, these writers have in common that they clearly know and clearly express genuine emotional truth. They hold our attention by conveying their stories honestly. They have no need for the tricks and devices of melodrama, shallow emotionalism, or shocking plot twists.
This accomplishment – this evidence of high literary quality – is all the more impressive in historical and social context. They lived in a time of widespread suffering. Yet even as most of these writers begin by drawing our attention to terrible and extensive suffering (and go on by holding it there), they end by keeping our attention in writing clearly and convincingly about important things they really know - leaving us moved, convinced, and a little richer for the experience.
Wit and Humor of America, The Vol 09

Various
The Wit and Humor of America is a 10 volume series. In this, the ninth volume, 37 short stories and poems have been gathered from 31 authors. This volume is sure to delight listeners.
Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy

Stephen Leacock
Humorous, ironic, and sometimes cynical observations of life in 1915 from Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock.
Biltmore Oswald

J. Thorne Smith, Jr.
The hilarious diary of a young man's recruitment into, and service in a navy, which, though well equipped and disciplined, remains woefully ill prepared for his arrival and dubious contribution.
Not George Washington

P. G. Wodehouse
It has been said that behind every successful man is a good woman. This is certainly true in the case of James Orlebar Cloyster. However, some funny things happened on his road to success. His story is humorously told from the point of view of several parties involved.

According to Wikipedia, the book is a humorous, fictionalized account of Wodehouse's early years as a journalist, with Wodehouse being portrayed by the character of Cloyster.
Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) and Two Other Reminiscences

H. G. Wells
Select Conversations with an Uncle, published in 1895, was H.G. Wells's first literary publication in book form. It consists of reports of twelve conversations between a fictional witty uncle who has returned to London from South Africa with "a certain affluence," as well as two other conversations (one on aestheticism that takes place in a train, titled "A Misunderstood Artist," and another on physiognomy, titled "The Man with a Nose")
Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War

Finley Peter Dunne
In Chicago lay a street called Archey Road, which stretched through a neighborhood which was mostly Irish immigrants, among whom was Martin Dooley, "doctor of philosophy." Mr. Dooley was a saloonkeeper with opinions on most everything in his day, political or not. His pronouncements found their mark often as not in the White House, and President Theodore Roosevelt would begin his cabinet meetings with readings of Mr. Dooley's thoughts for the day. Of course, Mr. Dooley was entirely fictional, but his keen wit and insight were as relevant as any put forth by, say, Finley Peter Dunne, that penner of satirical essays.
Ghetto Comedies

Israel Zangwill
A series of tales, poignant as well as comic, set in the Jewish East End of London by the writer known as the "Dickens of the ghetto"
Told after Supper

Jerome K. Jerome
It is Christmas Eve, and the narrator, his uncle and sundry other local characters are sitting round the fire drinking copious quantities of whisky punch and telling ghost stories until bedtime, when...

But no, I won't spoil the fun. This is a little gem: Jerome at his tongue-in-cheek best.
Black Poodle and Other Tales, The

Anstey, F.
This is a collection of ten humorous short stories
Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacie

Thomas Lodge
This novel, which Shakespeare adapted in his pastoral comedy As You Like It, is the archetypal pastoral adventure. Two young persons of high birth, who have recently lost their fathers (one to death, one to banishment), fall in love but are separated almost at once and forced to flee to the Forest of Arden. There they meet again, but as Rosalynde is disguised for safety as a boy, named Ganymede, her lover Rosader does not recognize her. Once Rosader has confided his love to Ganymede, they play a game in which the "boy" poses as Rosalynde to give Rosader practice in wooing. As the comic episodes, replete with dramatic irony, accumulate, minor characters with complementary romantic relationships fill in the spectrum of the sublime ludicrousness of sexual love until the shadow of death (which is not excluded from Arcadia!) brings matters to a happy conclusion. The various sets of lovers are appropriately joined, and once the corrupt seats of authority back home have been either purged or reformed, Rosalynde's banished father the Duke and the high-born lovers return to civilization, bringing with them a better understanding of what really matters in life.
Sunny Side

A. A. Milne
The Sunny Side is a collection of short stories and essays by A. A. Milne. Though Milne is best known for his classic children's books, especially Winnie The Pooh, he also wrote extensively for adults, most notably in Punch, to which he was a contributor and later Assistant Editor. The Sunny Side collects his columns for Punch, which include poems, essays and short stories, from 1912 to 1920. Wry, often satirical and always amusingly written, these pieces poke fun at topics from writing plays to lying about birdwatching. They vary greatly in length so there is something for everyone.
Sunny Side (Version 2)

A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne is best known for his creation of the perennially popular Winnie the Pooh, though he was and is highly acclaimed for hundreds of gently humorous essays and poems published in, among other famous venues, Punch Magazine, most of which have been collected and published as books.The Sunny Side is his last collection of articles and verses because, as he wrote in the American Introduction to the volume, “this sort of writing depends largely upon the irresponsibility and high spirits of youth for its success, and I want to stop before …the high spirits become mechanical …”He called this assortment “scrappy, because, “…Odd Verses have crept in on the unanswerable plea that, if they didn't do it now, they never would; War Sketches protested that I shouldn't have a book at all if I left them out; an Early Article, omitted from three previous volumes, paraded for the fourth time with such a pathetic 'I suppose you don't want me' in its eye that it could not decently be rejected.” He concludes: “So here they all are."Summary by Kirsten Wever
Pieces of Hate and other Enthusiasms

Broun, Heywood
This book is a collection of humorous short stories about ordinary instances in daily life. We learn many interesting things about life, such as how to court women successfully, what it feels like to be a god, and why sometimes it would be a good idea to exchange one's own newborn baby for a better one at the hospital.
Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance

Mark Twain
Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance, a short volume, published by Sheldon & Co., NY in 1871, is Mark Twain's third book. It consists of two stories - First Romance, which had originally appeared in The Express in 1870, and A Burlesque Autobiography (bearing no relationship to Twain's actual life), which first appeared in Twain's Memoranda contributions to the Galaxy. Rather, the content consists of a few short stories of fictional characters who are supposedly part of Twain's lineage. In the final passage, Twain develops the story to a point of crisis, and then abruptly ends the tale, saying:
“The truth is, I have got my hero (or heroine) into such a particularly close place, that I do not see how I am ever going to get him (or her) out of it again—and therefore I will wash my hands of the whole business, and leave that person to get out the best way that offers—or else stay there. I thought it was going to be easy enough to straighten out that little difficulty, but it looks different now. ”

With that, Twain's "Autobiography" ends.

The illustrations form an interesting aspect of this book. They have no relationship to the text of the book. Rather, they use cartoons illustrating the children's poem The House that Jack Built to lampoon the Erie Railroad Ring (the house) and its participants, Jay Gould, John T. Hoffman, and Jim Fisk.

The book was not one of Twain's personal favorites. Two years after publication, he bought all of the printing plates of the book and destroyed them.
Humour of the North

Burpee, Lawrence J.
Some day an enterprising editor may find time to glean from the whole field of Canadian literature a representative collection of wit and humour. . . . The present little collection obviously makes no such ambitious claim. It embraces, however, what are believed to be representative examples of the work of some of our better-known writers, many of which will no doubt be quite familiar to Canadian readers, but perhaps none the less welcome on that account.
Vice in its Proper Shape

Anonymous
Cautionary tales of the transmigration of the souls of naughty boys and girls, as elucidated by the mysterious Bramin, Mr Wiseman: "Having been gifted with the faculty of distinguishing those animals which are now animated by the souls of such human beings as formerly degraded themselves to a level with the unthinking brutes, I have taken the pains to provide a collection of beasts, birds, &c. most of which are inhabited by the souls of some naughty masters or misses, who died in the neighbourhood." (David Barnes, quoting the Introduction)
Nye and Riley's Wit and Humor

Bill Nye
"What this country needs, aside from a new Indian policy and a style of poison for children which will be liable to kill rats if they eat it by accident, is a Railway Guide which will be just as good two years ago as it was next spring—a Railway Guide, if you please, which shall not be cursed by a plethora of facts, or poisoned with information—a Railway Guide that shall be rich with doubts and lighted up with miserable apprehensions. In other Railway Guides, pleasing fancy, poesy and literary beauty, have been throttled at the very threshold of success, by a wild incontinence of facts, figures, asterisks and references to meal stations. For this reason a guide has been built at our own shops and on a new plan. It is the literary piece de resistance of the age in which we live. It will not permit information to creep in and mar the reader's enjoyment of the scenery. It contains no railroad map which is grossly inaccurate. It has no time-table in it which has outlived its uselessness. It does not prohibit passengers from riding on the platform while the cars are in motion. It permits every one to do just as he pleases and rather encourages him in taking that course." - Bill Nye
Mirror Of Kong Ho

Ernest Bramah
This 1905 tongue-in-cheek book is ostensibly the letters of a dutiful son to his Chinese father describing his encounter with and experience of Western civilization in late nineteenth century London. The author is delightfully humorous.
Smoke Bellew

Jack London
Smoke Bellew, or really Jack London, leaves his less than satisfying writing job in San Francisco for the opportunity to search for gold in the Klondike region while writing about his adventures there. Smoke Bellew is the collection of the resulting twelve essay / stories.
Helen's Babies

Habberton, John
In this hilarious novel, Harry Burton, a bachelor white-goods salesman, goes to take care of his sister Helen's two little boys for ten days while she and her husband are out of town. Helen says, "The children won't give you the slightest trouble; they're the best children in the world!" but, as you can imagine, Toddie and Budge are always up to something, and all sorts of comic mischief ensues. It just so happens that there's a lovely young lady in the neighborhood whom Harry admires very much, but she always seems to be passing by when he's deep in some terrible mess of the boys' making...
Christmas Comes but Once a Year

Leighton, John
A Christmas tale of John Brown's ghastly family (suburban snobs), Captain Bonaventure de Camp and his equally awful brood (a dubious crew), and poor Soavo Spohf, organist of St. Stiff the Martyr, gifted in musical ability but not blessed in looks or love.

No-one could call this a great work of literature, but it definitely raises a few chuckles and it also offers a fascinating glimpse into Christmas festivities and social mores in well-to-do households in the mid-19th century.
Seven Men

Max Beerbohm
In order to liven up the literary history of Great Britain in the 1890s (as if Oscar Wilde, Stevenson, Kipling, Hardy, etc., were not lively enough) Max Beerbohm wrote short biographies of six imaginary writers. Though their works of course no longer exist, he leaves the impression that the literary world is really none the poorer. It is, of course, the six men themselves (Beerbohm himself is the seventh man of the title) who are worth our attention.
Amiable Charlatan

E. Phillips Oppenheim
An Englishman is enjoying his dinner at Stephano's, at which he is a regular diner. A man enters quickly, sits at his table, starts eating his food, and hands him a packet underneath the table! So begins Paul Walmsley's acquaintance - and adventures - with American adventurer Joseph H. Parker and his lovely daughter, Eve. (Intro by TriciaG)

Note that there is an alternate reading of section 8. Both are excellent renditions, so enjoy either or both of them.
Genial Idiot, The

Bangs, John Kendrick
John Kendrick Bangs once again takes us on a journey with the loveable, but somewhat self-opinionated and irritating Mr Idiot.
More Tish

Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote 6 books about the elderly Letitia (Tish) Carberry and the escapades she gets her elderly lady cronies into. The series led to a 1942 movie with Marjorie Main. This particular book, the third in the series, was written after Mary's stint as a war correspondent in Belgium during the first World War.
Giant's Robe

F. Anstey
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.
Cave On Thunder Cloud

Mary Roberts Rinehart
Tish Carberry reluctantly takes her two best friends, Aggie and Lizzie, on a camping trip into the hills of their Midwestern American town, only to fall in with outlaws on the lam from a train robbery! Comic adventure ensues.
Amusement Only

Marsh, Richard
This is a collection of 12 short stories of mystery and humor, which are, as the title says, for amusement only.
Witches of New York, The

Doesticks, Q. K. Philander
A humorous account of visits to various fortune tellers, card readers, seers, and other "witches" of New York. Written by Q.K. Philander Doesticks (a.k.a.Mortimer Thomson).
Bealby; A Holiday

H. G. Wells
Bealby is the comical story of the escapade of a thirteen-year-old boy when he rebels against his placement as a steward's-room boy in the great house of an estate named Shonts (his stepfather, Mr. Darling, is a gardener there) and flees—not, however, before thoroughly upsetting a weekend party where the nouveau riche couple renting Shonts is entertaining the Lord Chancellor.
Rainy Week (Version 2)

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
A couple invite people of different walks of life to their cottage along the beach, during the rainiest week of the year. The gathered people are unknowing actors in a carefully crafted play that is created by inviting personalities that can be manipulated by the ever changing environment, or by other nearby personalities. ( Glenn Koster, Jr.)

“To be indeed absolutely explicit experience has proved, with an almost chemical accuracy, that, quite regardless of "age, sex, or previous condition of servitude," this particular combination of Romantic Passion, Psychic Austerity, Tragedy, Ambition, Poignancy, Innocence, And Irritation, cannot be housed together for even one Rainy Week without producing drama!” (Eleanor Hallowell Abbott)
Baled Hay: A Drier Book than Walt Whitman's ''Leaves o' Grass''

Bill Nye
There can really be no excuse for this last book of trite and beautiful sayings. I do not attempt, in any way, to palliate this great wrong. I would not do so even if I had an idea what palliate meant. . . . I have taken great care to thoroughly eradicate anything that would have the appearance of poetry in this work, and there is not a thought or suggestion contained in it that would soil the most delicate fabric.Do not read it all at once, however, in order to see whether he married the girl or not. Take a little at a time, and it will cure gloom on the "similia simili-bus curanter" principle.
One Day's Courtship and The Heralds of Fame

Robert Barr
Robert Barr approaches romance in two short stories in his engaging and subtly humorous style.

In One Day's Courtship, British artist John Trenton visits Quebec and tries to slip in a quick canoe trip on his last day in town to photograph the scenic Shawenegan Falls.

In The Heralds of Fame, a freshman novelist heads to America with his suitcase packed with copies of his new book. Before heading out, he panic buys an extra copy of his own book at a bookstand to buoy sales after observing someone pass it up. This sets off a chain of events.
Hohenzollerns in America With the Bolsheviks in Berlin and Other Impossibilities

Stephen Leacock
More stories by Canadian Stephen Leacock. Some of these stories carry over characters introduced in Further Foolishness. Some stories are humourous; some are more thoughtful. It helps to be familiar with WWI-era European politics to catch much of the humour.
Neither Here nor There

Oliver Herford
Oliver Herford, and American humorist, writer, and illustrator here gives us short vignettes from topics as seemingly insignificant things as the creases in trouser, several pieces on cats, and societal mores and foibles. Each piece is filled with humorous barbs and insights into the human condition.
Ruggles of Red Gap

Harry Leon Wilson
A stuffy class-conscious gentleman's valet is transplanted to the rough uncivilized American northwest, where the rubes and social climbers are duly impressed with his manners and style. Will the American freedom rub off on the Englishman, or will the churlish Americans acquire some high-class polish? Witty social commentary a la P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.
Tartarin of Tarascon

Daudet, Alphonse
The story tells the burlesque adventures of Tartarin, a local hero of Tarascon, a small town in southern France, whose invented adventures and reputation as a swashbuckler finally force him to travel to a very prosaic Algiers in search of lions.
Eliza

Barry Pain
A gentle, yet deliciously humourous series of brief anecdotes, that follow the mundane, though surprisingly hazard strewn lives of our rather pompous main character, and his long suffering wife, Eliza.
Irish Wit and Humor

Anonymous
Excerpted anecdotes from the biographies of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell, relating humorous snippets of politics in 18th and 19th century Ireland. For some these may be poignant in addition to being humorous and for others they may be humorous in addition to being poignant.
Fortunes of Glencore

Charles James Lever
Viscount Glencore has retreated to live alone with his son in Glencore castle after his wife deserted him claiming she did not love him. He wishes to exact revenge on her by denouncing the marriage and therefore proclaiming his son to be illegitimate. This consequently robs the child of his birthright and upon his father telling him his intentions, the boy runs away and refuses to return home. Glencore asks his old friend Upton to become the boys guardian to which he agrees after much protestation against it. The boy and his companion Billy move abroad to pursue their schooling and try to live a life of anonymity but all does not go according to plan.
Dragon of Wantley, The

Wister, Owen
The "true" story of the Wantley Dragon. Set at Christmas time, it is a tale of a Baron, his daughter, a brave knight, True Love, and the terrible Dragon of Wantley. Oh, and don't forget the wine.
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