Publisher's Synopsis
Three Men on the Bummel is a humorous novel by Jerome K. Jerome. It was published in 1900, eleven years after his most famous work, Three Men in a Boat. The sequel brings back the three companions who figured in Three Men in a Boat, this time on a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest.The novel was written near the top of the Victorian-era bicycle craze, launched by the event of the two-wheeled safety bike . It depicts an era when bicycles had just become a well-known piece of middle-class recreational equipment. The references to brand competition, advertising, and enthusiasts' attitudes toward their equipment resonate with modern readers.The novel invites comparison with H. G. Wells's 1896 humorous cycling novel, The Wheels of Chance.Many of the comments on cycling are relevant-and funny-today. those that have purchased ergonomic bicycle saddles, intended to alleviate pressure on the perineal nerves, might not know that these aren't a replacement invention: I said "...There could also be a far better land where bicycle saddles are made out of rainbow, full of cloud; during this world the only thing is to urge wont to something hard. There was that saddle you purchased in Birmingham; it had been divided within the middle, and seemed like a pair of kidneys."He said: "You mean that one constructed on anatomical principles.""Very likely," I replied. "The box you purchased it in had an image on the duvet, representing a sitting skeleton-or rather that a part of a skeleton which does sit."He said: "It was quite correct; it showed you truth position of the--"I said: "We won't enter details; the image always appeared to me indelicate."
