Over one hundred years since it was first published ‘Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow’ addresses subjects which are still relevant today – perhaps more so! Being hard up, being in the blues and being in love are just some aspects of the human condition on which Jerome K. Jerome reflects in his unique whimsical fashion.

These insights are not given for the benefit of our education however, for as he says in his introduction, “This book would not elevate a cow. I cannot consciously recommend it for any useful purpose whatsoever. All I can suggest is, that when you get tired of reading ‘the best hundred books’ you may take this up for half an hour. It will be a change!”

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859–1927) was an English author born in Walsall, Staffordshire, son of a preacher. Due to bad investments his family suffered poverty and debt collectors often visited. When aged 13 the death of both parents forced him to quit studies and find employment at a railway, initially collecting coal that fell along the track. Aged 21 he tried to become a journalist, writing essays, satires and short stories, but most of these were rejected. Over the next few years he was a school teacher, a packer, and a solicitor’s clerk. Finally, in 1885, he had some success with On the Stage—and Off, a humorous book which publication had opened the door for more plays and essays. Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, a collection of humorous essays, followed in 1886. In 1888, Jerome married Georgina Marris nine days after she had divorced her first husband. The honeymoon took place on the Thames, a fact which was to have a significant influence on his next, and most important work, Three Men in a Boat.