"We agree that we are overworked, and need a rest - A week on the rolling deep? - George suggests the river -" And with the co-operation of several hampers of food and a covered boat, the three men (not forgetting the dog) set out on a hilarious voyage of mishaps up the Thames. When not falling in the river and getting lost in Hampton Court Maze, Jerome K. Jerome finds time to express his ideas on the world around - many of which have acquired a deeper fascination since the day at the end of the 19th century when this excursion was so lightly undertaken.

A "bummel" is a journey without end. Whether we want to or not, most of us have to settle with a return to our regular exertions. So do these heroes of THREE MEN IN A BOAT, only on this occasion, a cycling trip through the Black Forest, it seems they may cycle on forever, such are their problems. Whether it's George attempting to buy a cushion for his aunt or Harris' harrowing experience with a road-waterer, not to mention the routine problems with language and directions, things get very confused indeed! "A delightful excursion in a world which, alas, exists no longer—and indeed may only have been found in the author's lively imagination." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

This volume stands as the only available critical edition of two of the most popular classics in English literature. Three Men in a Boat describes a comic expedition by middle-class Victorians up the Thames to Oxford, providing along the way brilliant snap-shots of London's playground in the late 1880s. In Three Men on the Bummel, the three Englishmen escape from the claustrophobia of suburban life some ten years later to go on a cycling tour in the Black Forest of Germany.