John And Freddy

The Bab Ballads

by W. S. GILBERT (1836 - 1911)

The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique "topsy-turvy" style, where the humour was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert's cynical and satirical approach to humour. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert's childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations "Bab". (summary from wikipedia) e-text with illustrations

Listen next episodes of The Bab Ballads:
A Discontented Sugar Broker , At A Pantomime. By A Bilious One , Babette's Love , Baines Carew, Gentleman , Ben Allah Achmet; - Or, The Fatal Tum , Bob Polter , Disillusioned - By An Ex-Enthusiast , Ellen McJones Aberdeen , Ferdinando And Elvira; Or, The Gentle Pieman , Gentle Alice Brown , Haunted , Joe Golightly - Or, The First Lord's Daughter , King Borria Bungalee Boo , Lorenzo De Lardy , Peter The Wag , Sir Guy The Crusader , Sir Macklin , Tempora Mutantur , The Bishop And The 'Busman , The Bishop Of Rum-Ti-Foo , The Folly Of Brown - By A General Agent , The Force Of Argument , The Ghost, The Gallant, The Gael, And The Goblin , The Pantomime "Super" To His Mask , The Periwinkle Girl , The Phantom Curate. A Fable , The Precocious Baby. A Very True Tale , The Reverend Micah Sowls , The Sensation Captain , The Story Of Prince Agib , The Three Kings of Chickeraboo , The Troubadour , The Yarn Of The "Nancy Bell" , Thomas Winterbottom Hance , Thomson Green And Harriet Hale , To My Bride - (Whoever She May Be) , To Phoebe , To The Terrestrial Globe. By A Miserable Wretch