The Bab Ballads

by W. S. GILBERT (1836 - 1911)

The Story Of Prince Agib

The Bab Ballads

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:
Ben Allah Achmet; - Or, The Fatal Tum , Ellen McJones Aberdeen , Gentle Alice Brown , Joe Golightly - Or, The First Lord's Daughter , Peter The Wag , The Three Kings of Chickeraboo , To The Terrestrial Globe. By A Miserable Wretch