The Bab Ballads

By W.S. Gilbert

Book Overview

W. S. Gilbert, renowned author of the Savoy Operas, was also the creator of the Bab Ballads--"possibly the best comic verse--and surely the best illustrated--in the English language," according to James Ellis. Gilbert published these poems, together with his own, grotesque drawings signed "Bab," a childhood nickname, in Fun and other magazines in the late nineteenth century. In 1898, the older and by then distinguished Gilbert substituted pallid and inoffensive drawings for the originals, which he had come to believe "erred gravely in the direction of unnecessary extravagance." Since then the ballads have been collected and published in various editions, most of which have featured the revised drawings and only a selection of the poems. This is the only book to offer the complete collection of ballads with all original illustrations, a tribute to the comic genius of a writer known as "the most original dramatist of his generation." This collection will delight readers with its irreverence and wit.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674058003
• ISBN13: 9780674058002
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Oh, Rapture! A W.S.Gilbert-Lover's Dream Come True

W.S. Gilbert was the master of the perfect phrase, the sly aside, the cutting quip. Jim Broadbent is the actor who portrayed Gilbert to perfection in the film "Topsy-Turvy." Now Broadbent brings his smooth delivery to these colorful ballads, some of which can be recognized as the inspiration for Gilbert & Sullivan's most popular operas. If you have even the slightest appreciation for G & S, buy this and learn why so many of us love them so. If you're as much of a fan as I am already, you *OWE* it to yourself to get the Broadbent Bab Ballads. Click on BUY NOW and run, don't walk, to the checkout. And be prepared for ecstatic rapture and unmingled joy.

Gilbert is a master craftsman of the English language!!

William S. Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) was a master craftsman of the English language. He was renowned as a poet, playwrite and author long before his association with Sir Arthur Sullivan of musical renown. The "Babb Ballads" show the crafstman at his best with sparkling rhymes and funny stories. If you truly love the English language and the skill with which it can be used to amuse and entertain, this book is one that you should not be without.

Bab Ballads is a wonderful book of poetry.

Bab Ballads contains many of the poems that William Scwenck Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan) wrote for the magazine "Fun." They are very funny and I suggest you buy this book