The Folio Book of Humorous Anecdotes

This collection, selected by Edward Leeson, gathers short spoken anecdotes rather than finished short stories: a meeting, a retort, a courtroom or club reverse, and a public figure caught in a small embarrassment. Typical subjects are vanity, drink, travel, the theatre, and the gap between reputation and the remark that punctures it. The pieces are independent and brief, closer to table talk written down than to plotted fiction. There is no frame narrative. The book is a sampler of comic anecdote, not a joke dictionary and not a single memoir.

Bound in pale green cloth, printed with a design by Nick Hardcastle. Dark red slipcase.