My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised. This collection, the first book of Jeeves and Wooster stories, includes βAbsent Treatment,β βHelping Freddie,β βRallying Round Old George,β βDoing Clarence a Bit of Good,β βFixing It for Freddie,β and βBertie Changes His Mind.β
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881β1975) was an English humorist who wrote novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He was highly popular throughout a career that lasted more than seventy years, and his many writings continue to be widely read. He is best known for his novels and short stories of Bertie Wooster and his manservant Jeeves and for his settings of English upper-class society of the preβ and postβWorld War I era. He lived in several countries before settling in the United States after World War II. During the 1920s, he collaborated with Broadway legends like Cole Porter and George Gershwin on musicals and, in the 1930s, expanded his repertoire by writing for motion pictures. He was honored with a knighthood in 1975.
Jonathan Cecil (1939β2011) was a vastly experienced actor, appearing at Shakespeareβs Globe as well as in such West End productions as The Importance of Being Earnest, The Seagull, and The Bed before Yesterday. He toured in The Incomparable Max, Twelfth Night, and An Ideal Husband, while among his considerable television and film appearances were The Rectorβs Wife, Just William, Murder Most Horrid, and As You Like It.