Three Men in a Boat

First published in 1889, this comic narrative sends the narrator J., his friends George and Harris, and the fox terrier Montmorency on a rowing-and-camping trip up the Thames from Kingston toward Oxford. They pack badly, argue about cooking, towpaths, and weather, and stop at riverside inns while J. digresses into mock history, comic memories, and complaints about hypochondria. The river itself - locks, islands, and weekend crowds - is the setting rather than a plotted adventure. The book is a humorous travelogue of a boating holiday, not a guidebook and not a sequel until a later German bicycle tour.

Bound in cream cloth with a cover design in dark red and gold by Cox. Colour picture printed endleaves. Red slipcase.