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BIG books are big evils, says some old Greek, not of the vigorous type
here depicted. _Mr. Punch_ seldom agrees with anybody, and he distinctly
disagrees with the Ancient in question. One big book, for instance,
which is no evil, but a good, is _Kelly's Post-Office Directory_, with
which he has been favoured, and which he has been perusing with avidity
ever since it arrived. It was remarked to a clownish servant, who was
eating away at a vast Cheshire cheese, that he was a long time at
supper, and his triumphant answer was that a cheese of that size was not
got through in a hurry. The remark, but not the clownishness, is adopted
by _Mr. Punch_ in regard to the Kelly Book. He has, as yet, read only
the first thousand pages or so, but he intends to complete his labour.
The volume contains the name and address of everybody, in London or the
suburbs, whose name and address anybody can possibly want. _Mr. Punch's_
own grand and brilliant idea is, to do with KELLY something like what
BAYLE did for MORERI. He meditates issuing a _Kelly_ with vast notes of
his own, in which he proposes to give a biography and anecdotes of
everybody mentioned in the original book. As there will be several
thousand volumes, the work must be published by subscriptions, which
perhaps MR. KELLY will be good enough to canvass and collect for _Mr.
Punch_. The _Kelly-Punch Biography_ will be a production worthy the
gigantic genius of the age, and _Mr. Punch_ admits that his
collaborateur has admirably done _his_ part of the work.
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