First published in 1889 & never out of print Jerome K Jerome's classic of humorous literature continues to delight new generations of readers. The book follows three friends Harris George & Jerome himself accompanied by the ever-mischievous (and actually fictitious) dog Montmorency as they skull up the Thames from Kingston in Surrey as far as Oxford. However the book is far more than a travelogue. It uses incidents from the journey as jumping off points for some virtuosic set pieces as hilarious & relevant today as they were in the late Victorian period when boating was becoming the next big thing". Stephen Lambe dissects Jerome's masterpiece placing it in context as a brilliantly sustained piece of observational comedy. But he also examines the River itself & by using both modern & period photographs presented in full colour examines how the Thames has developed over the last 120 years. The result will be indispensible to fans of the book who want to know a little more about the context in which it was written & also to all those that have an interest in the development of England's most important & famous waterway."