Transcribed from the 1884 George Routledge and Sons editions by David
Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
[Picture: Book cover]
FIFTY “BAB” BALLADS
Much Sound and Little Sense
BY
W. S. GILBERT
[Picture: Baby at piano]
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR_ {1}
* * * * *
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
NEW YORK: 9 LAFAYETTE PLACE
1884
* * * * *
[Picture: Dalziel Brothers: Engravers and Printers]
* * * * *
PREFACE.
THE “BAB BALLADS” appeared originally in the columns of “FUN,” when that
periodical was under the editorship of the late TOM HOOD. They were
subsequently republished in two volumes, one called “THE BAB BALLADS,”
the other “MORE BAB BALLADS.” The period during which they were written
extended over some three or four years; many, however, were composed
hastily, and under the discomforting necessity of having to turn out a
quantity of lively verse by a certain day in every week. As it seemed to
me (and to others) that the volumes were disfigured by the presence of
these hastily written impostors, I thought it better to withdraw from
both volumes such Ballads as seemed to show evidence of carelessness or
undue haste, and to publish the remainder in the compact form under which
they are now presented to the reader.
It may interest some to know that the first of the series, “The Yarn of
the _Nancy Bell_,” was originally offered to “PUNCH,”—to which I was, at
that time, an occasional contributor. It was, however, declined by the
then Editor, on the ground that it was “too cannibalistic for his
readers’ tastes.”