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These are the poems - ballads - which W.S.Gilbert (using the pseudonym Bab) wrote as a contributor to Fun. Many of them contain the germ of a Savoy opera. For instance, The Rival Curates was the seed from which Patience grew, and the stories of Captain Reece (of The Mantelpiece) have a definite ring of HMS Pinafore about them.
My own favourite is Etiquette (nothing to do with Ruddigore !), which tells the tale of two shipwrecked men who don't speak to each other, because "they had not been introduced". They rejoice when they discover, by accident, that they both know Robinson. All goes swimmingly, until Robinson arrives on the island ...
In addition to the ballads themselves, this book contains all the original illustrations. No fan of W.S.Gilbert can consider their library complete without a copy !
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