Editing Three Men in a Boat (section)

==Reception==
{{blockquote|One might have imagined … that the British Empire was in danger. … ''[[Evening Standard|The Standard]]'' spoke of me as a menace to English letters; and ''[[The Morning Post]]'' as an example of the sad results to be expected from the over-education of the lower orders. … I think I may claim to have been, for the first twenty years of my career, the best abused author in England.|Jerome K. Jerome|''My Life and Times'' (1926)}}

The reception by critics varied between lukewarm and hostile. The use of slang was condemned as "vulgar" and the book was derided as written to appeal to {{" '}}Arrys and 'Arriets" – then common sneering terms for working-class Londoners who [[H-dropping|dropped their Hs]] when speaking. [[Punch (magazine)|''Punch'' magazine]] dubbed Jerome {{" '}}Arry K. 'Arry".<ref>{{cite book | title= My Life and Times | last= Jerome | first= Jerome | year= 1926 | publisher= Hodder & Stoughton | isbn= 0-7195-4089-5}}</ref> Modern commentators have praised the humour, but criticised the book's unevenness, as the humorous sections are interspersed with more serious passages written in a sentimental, sometimes [[Purple prose|purple]], style.

Yet the book sold in huge numbers. "I pay Jerome so much in royalties", the publisher told a friend, "I cannot imagine what becomes of all the copies of that book I issue. I often think the public must eat them."<ref name="MatthewGreen" >
{{cite book | title= Three Men in a Boat, Annotated and Introduced by Christopher Matthew and Benny Green | last=Jerome | chapter= Afterward| first= Jerome | year= 1982  | publisher= Michael Joseph| isbn=0-907516-08-4}}
</ref> The first edition was published in August 1889 and serialised in the magazine ''[[Home Chimes]]'' in the same year.<ref group = "Note">''Home Chimes'' was published 1884–1894 by Richard Willoughby, London, price 1/-. It was a (first weekly, then monthly) miscellany, mostly fiction by little-known authors. See [http://www.philsp.com/data/data176.html Magazine Data File]</ref> The first edition remained in print from 1889 until March 1909, when the second edition was issued. During that time, 202,000 copies were sold.<ref name="Jerome1" >
{{cite book | title= Three Men in a Boat | last= Jerome |chapter= Publisher's Introduction| first= Jerome | year= 1909 | edition=2nd | location= Bristol | publisher= J W Arrowsmith | isbn= 0-9548401-7-8}}
</ref> In his introduction to the 1909 second edition, Jerome states that he had been told another million copies had been sold in America by [[Copyright infringement|pirate printers]].<ref name="Jerome2" >
{{cite book | title= Three Men in a Boat | last= Jerome |chapter= Author's Introduction| first= Jerome | year= 1909 | edition=2nd | location= Bristol | publisher= J W Arrowsmith | isbn= 0-9548401-7-8}}
</ref> The book was translated into many languages. The Russian edition was particularly successful and became a standard school textbook. Jerome later complained in a letter to ''[[The Times]]'' of Russian books not written by him, published under his name to benefit from his success.<ref name="times">
{{Cite newspaper The Times
 | author = Jerome K. Jerome
 | title   = Literary Piracy in Russia
 | date = 8 July 1902
 | issue= 36814
 | page = 4
 | column = d
 | url = https://www.thetimes.com/archive/article/1902-07-08/4/8.html}}
</ref> Since its publication, ''Three Men in a Boat'' has never been out of print. It continues to be popular, with ''[[The Guardian]]'' listing it as one of ''The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time'' in 2003,<ref name="guardian2003">{{cite news|title=The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/12/features.fiction|access-date=6 June 2017|work=The Guardian|date=12 October 2003}}</ref> and in 2015<ref>{{cite news|title=The 100 best novels written in English: the full list|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list|access-date=6 June 2017|work=The Guardian|date=17 August 2015}}</ref> and ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' including it in the ''50 Funniest Books Ever'' in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news
 | title      = 50 Funniest books
 | magazine   = [[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]
 | date       = March 2009
 | pages      = 14
 }}</ref> In 2003, the book was no. 101 in the BBC's list of "the nation's favourite novels"  for [[The Big Read]] .<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml "BBC – The Big Read"]. BBC. April 2003, Retrieved 11 November 2012</ref>