"It often happens that you are unable to obtain just the book
you want. We specialise in this branch of book-selling."
* * * * *
"Observing a straw stack on fire opposite her house a woman
removed her baby from the bath and poured the bath water on to
the flames."--_Evening Paper._
What we admire is her presence of mind in first removing the baby.
* * * * *
"Mr. and Mrs. John ---- wish to return grateful thanks to all
who so kindly contributed to their late great loss by theft."
_Local Paper._
Always be polite to burglars. You never know when they may call again.
* * * * *
We understand that Smith minor, who in an examination paper wrote
_margot_, instead of _margo_, as the Latin for "the limit," has been
reprimanded severely by his master.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
_MR. PUNCH'S HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR_
Self-praise, it used to be held, is no recommendation; but that was
before the War. The War has altered so many things that it may have
altered this too, and self-praise be the best recommendation of all. Mr.
Punch hopes so, because he wants to indulge for the moment in extolling
one of his own products; he wishes, in short, to urge upon all his
readers the merits of "Mr. Punch's History of the Great War." Everything
is here, in very noteworthy synthesis; the tragedy and the comedy
inextricably mingled, as they must ever be, but as by more formal
historians they are not.
Such is Mr. Punch's opinion on Mr. Punch's own book, which is no formal
history of the War in the strict or scientific sense of the phrase; no
detailed record of naval and military operations. Rather it is a
mirror of varying moods, reflecting in the main how England remained
steadfastly true to her best traditions; a reflex of British character
during the days of doubt and the hours of hope that marked the strenuous
and wearying days of the War.
All ages and classes come into the picture--combatants and
non-combatants, young and old, men and women. And Mr. Punch's pencil
plays a part at least equal to that of his pen, the record of each month
being generously supplied with cartoons and illustrations by famous
_Punch_ artists. Into these pages has been compressed just what we need
to remember about the War, and we are reminded of things which we had
already forgotten. Here is the tragedy and the pathos of the Great
War--even the comedy of those great years of undying memory.
No more popular history of the War has been written; it has been
eulogised everywhere, for it is a book that every citizen of the Empire
should read and be proud to possess. As a Christmas gift it is ideal,
and will be gladly welcomed not only by those at home, but also by
those in Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, and other parts of our
far-flung Empire, whose gallant sons shared the horrors and the victory
of those four-and-a-half years.
[Illustration: THE OPTIMIST.
"If this is the right village, then we're all right. The instructions is
clear:{missing colon in original} Go past the post-office and sharp to
the left afore you come to the church."]
* * * * *
_AN IMMORTAL STORY_
[Illustration: OUR MAN.
With Mr. Punch's Grateful Compliments to Field-Marshal Sir DOUGLAS HAIG.
["_Punch_," _November 29th_, 1918.]
"Mr. Punch's History of the Great War" is a History we can all read, and
all _should_ read, for here is the record of the heroes who added to
the glories of our blood and State--a roll that is endless--wonderful
gunners and sappers, and airmen and despatch riders, devoted surgeons
and heroic nurses, stretcher-bearers and ambulance drivers. "But Mr.
Punch's special heroes are the Second-Lieutenants and the Tommy who went
on winning the War all the time, and never said that he was winning it
until it was won."
To read this book will help us to realise the great debt, unpaid and
unpayable, to our immortal dead and to the valiant survivors, to whom we
owe freedom and security.
It is "a corrective record," says _The Times_, "not only of what
happened 'over there,' but of what people were saying and feeling at
home"; while _The Morning Post_ remarked: "Here Mr. Punch is the nation,
deftly wielding the weapon of ridicule that has helped to kill so many
enemy tyrants."
_THIS MOST ACCEPTABLE GIFT COSTS 10S. 6D. NET_
_Postage Extra_
_Published by_
CASSELL & Co., Ltd.
La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.4