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Three Men on the Bummel is the story of a Victorian bicycle trip gone wrong - then wrong and wrong again! A group of British gentlemen attempt a cycling expedition in Germany's Black Forest. Confusion about the differences in language and culture get them into continual trouble, whether it's boarding a train, buying a present for an aunt, or simply trying to get safely from one place to another. Will they ever get back to their own lives - and will they really want to? Reprising the characters from Jerome's hugely popular Three Men in a Boat, this gently humorous book will delight anyone who has ever had an unpredictable vacation.

Three Men on the Bummel "What we want," said Harris, "is a change." At this moment the door opened, and Mrs. Harris put her head in to say that Ethelbertha had sent her to remind me that we must not be late getting home because of Clarence. Ethelbertha, I am inclined to think, is unnecessarily nervous about the children. As a matter of fact, there was nothing wrong with the child whatever. He had been out with his aunt that morning; and if he looks wistfully at a pastrycook's window she takes him inside and buys him cream buns and "maids-of-honour" until he insists that he has had enough, and politely, but firmly, refuses to eat another anything. Then, of course, he wants only one helping of pudding at lunch, and Ethelbertha thinks he is sickening for something. Mrs. Harris added that it would be as well for us to come upstairs soon, on our own account also, as otherwise we should miss Muriel's rendering of "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party," out of Alice in Wonderland. "Three Men on the Bummel" book has a beautiful glossy cover and a blank page for the dedication.

Three Men on the Bummel (also known as Three Men on Wheels) 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 (To Say Nothing of the Dog). 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. D. C. Browning's introduction to the 1957 Everyman's edition says "Like most sequels, it has been compared unfavourably with its parent story, but it was only a little less celebrated than Three Men in a Boat and was for long used as a school book in Germany."Jeremy Nicholas of the Jerome K. Jerome Society regards it as a "comic masterpiece" containing "set pieces" as funny or funnier than those in its predecessor, but, taken as a whole, not as satisfying due to the lack of as strong a unifying thread.

Three Men on the Bummel (also known as Three Men on Wheels) 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 (To Say Nothing of the Dog). 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. D. C. Browning's introduction to the 1957 Everyman's edition says "Like most sequels, it has been compared unfavourably with its parent story, but it was only a little less celebrated than Three Men in a Boat and was for long used as a school book in Germany." Jeremy Nicholas of the Jerome K. Jerome Society regards it as a "comic masterpiece" containing "set pieces" as funny or funnier than those in its predecessor.

Three Men on the Bummel (also known as Three Men on Wheels) 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 (To Say Nothing of the Dog). 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. D. C. Browning's introduction to the 1957 Everyman's edition says "Like most sequels, it has been compared unfavourably with its parent story, but it was only a little less celebrated than Three Men in a Boat and was for long used as a school book in Germany."Jeremy Nicholas of the Jerome K. Jerome Society regards it as a "comic masterpiece" containing "set pieces" as funny or funnier than those in its predecessor, but, taken as a whole, not as satisfying due to the lack of as strong a unifying thread. The word 'Bummel'--D. C. Browning writes "The title must be puzzling to many readers, for 'bummel' will not be found in English dictionaries."[3][4] It is a German word, as Jerome does not explain until the end of the book, and apart from his book, it has not received any widespread use in English. (The first American edition, published by Dodd Mead in 1900, was entitled Three Men on Wheels.)[5] One of the characters in the book asks, "how would you translate [bummel]," to which the narrator replies: "A 'Bummel'," I explained, "I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when it's over." The general style and manner of the book are similar to its predecessor. It is a series of humorous vignettes, each of which builds slowly, through accumulation of layer on layer of detail, through several pages. Jeremy Nicholas calls these "set pieces." Most of them concern bicycling, genial (if shallow) commentary on German culture from the point of view of a British tourist, or situation-comedy-like depictions of interpersonal interactions between the characters. Cycling--The novel was written near the end of the Victorian-era bicycle craze, launched by the development of the two-wheeled safety bicycle. It depicts an era when bicycles had just become a familiar 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 who have purchased ergonomic bicycle saddles, intended to relieve pressure on the perineal nerves, may not know that these are not a new invention: I said "...There may be a better land where bicycle saddles are made out of rainbow, stuffed with cloud; in this world the simplest thing is to get used to something hard. There was that saddle you bought in Birmingham; it was divided in the middle, and looked like a pair of kidneys." He said: "You mean that one constructed on anatomical principles." "Very likely," I replied. "The box you bought it in had a picture on the cover, representing a sitting skeleton—or rather that part of a skeleton which does sit." He said: "It was quite correct; it showed you the true position of the--" I said: "We will not go into details; the picture always seemed to me indelicate."...

The three fearless friends introduced in Three Men in a Boat decide to take a cycling trip through the Black Forest and end up in a series of misadventures even more hilarious than their previous. ''A Bummel, '' I explained, ''I should describe as a journey, long or short, without end.'' However wonderful this may sound, it is often necessary to arrive back at the starting point. And, for the three fearless friends this poses a troublesome problem. George, Harris, and J. decide to take a cycling trip through the Black Forest, and this is to be accomplished on a tandem plus one. Whether it is Harris's harrowing experience with a Hanoverian road-waterer or George's valiant attempt to buy a cushion for his aunt, their experiences are hilarious--and they may even offer some important lessons to all who may be contemplating a cycling trip in the U.S.

As with Three Men in a Boat, Three Men on the Bummel seems thoroughly modern in tone and style of humor. Jerome K. Jerome is particularly fond of comical exaggeration of the sort that would seem totally natural on a television sitcom today. After a mistake involving somebody else's bicycle, and a run-in with the authorities, he summarizes "My going scot free is regarded in police circles there to this day as a grave miscarriage of justice." Portions read much like Douglas Adams ("I wish no one to read this book under a misapprehension. There will be no useful information in this book.") and others like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers (a discussion of an English shopkeeper frustrated when the protagonists, as a prank, pretend not to be able to speak English). The material near the start of the book about the friends and their wives is all quite funny, and thoroughly modern in the way the women effortlessly outsmart the men. The discussions of stereotypical German behavior are remarkable mostly for how little such stereotypes have changed. Germans were, 120 years ago and today, thought to be officious and compulsive in following rules. Fans of old bicycle books will find much here to like, with description of the hazards of amateur bike-tuning, and lies in bike advertisements, and the observation that uphills always seem to last longer than downhills.