Other Fiction Jerome, Jerome K.: Tea-table Talk (Illustrated). v1. 19 June 2012

[GrannyGrump]

By the author of “Three Men in a Boat,” “Three Men on the Bummel,” “Diary of a Pilgrimage,” “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow,” “Stage-Land,” etc. First published 1903.

They have gathered for conversation and afternoon tea: the Philosopher, the Minor Poet, the Woman of the World, the Girton Girl, the Old Maid, and of course, Our Narrator. The conversations wander hither and yon, discussing philosophy, social issues, human behavior, love stories, tragedies, and more, with a good deal of humor intertwined.

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An excerpt:

“The art of the raconteur,” observed the Philosopher, “consists in avoiding the unessential. I have a friend who never yet to my knowledge reached the end of a story. It is intensely unimportant whether the name of the man who said the thing or did the deed be Brown or Jones or Robinson. But she will worry herself into a fever trying to recollect. ‘Dear, dear me!’ she will leave off to exclaim; ‘I know his name so well. How stupid of me!’ She will tell you why she ought to recollect his name, how she always has recollected his name till this precise moment. She will appeal to half the people in the room to help her. It is hopeless to try and induce her to proceed, the idea has taken possession of her mind. After a world of unnecessary trouble she recollects that it was Tomkins, and is delighted; only to be plunged again into despair on discovery that she has forgotten his address. This makes her so ashamed of herself she declines to continue, and full of self-reproach, she retires to her own room. Later she re-enters, beaming, with the street and number pat. But by that time she has forgotten the anecdote.”

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16 full-page illustrations. Embedded font for chapter heads and drop-caps. Plain-cap version uses large-caps instead of drop-caps.

I hope you enjoy it.

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