As I said in my previous post, I plan on reading the Jeeves and Wooster stories in order of publication. I’m using this Wikipedia article as a source. I’m following that articles recommendation,
An efficient method of reading the entire Jeeves canon is to read The World of Jeeves followed by the eleven novels in order of publication. The novels should preferably read in order since there is a certain amount of narrative development between them, and the later novels are essentially sequels to the early ones.
There are lots of short stories to begin with and some are republished in later works. Also, the novel The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) is a semi-novel consisting of 18 chapters originally published as 11 short stories. Matt at work is reading the novel version, I thought I’d tackle the earlier individual stories for comparison. Getting ahold of The World of Jeeves which apparently has the whole collection of short stories is no easy task; it must be out of print. I found a copy of Amazon.com for $65; seems a little steep. But I also found one at Powells for only $11 and they are shipping it from the warehouse to the Beaverton store for me. Hope it’s the same book.
Anyway, here is the list in the order in which I plan to read.
- Four early stories . I’ve finished reading these
- Extricating Young Gussie (1917)
- Leave It To Jeeves (1919)
- Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest (1919)
- Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg (1919)
- The World of Jeeves (Collection) [Ordered from Powell’s]
- The short stories forming the basis of The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)
- Carry on, Jeeves (1925) Ten stories. I’ve read a couple of these already.
- Very Good Jeeves (1930) Eleven stories.
- Thank You, Jeeves (1934) The first full-length Jeeves novel
- Right Ho, Jeeves (1934). US title: Brinkley Manor I read it under the original title this summer on vacation. It’s what got me started
- The Code of the Woosters (1938) I think the classic Jeeves and Wooster story – at least my favorite going into this project [Ordered]
- Joy in the Morning (1946) US title Jeeves in the Morning Interesting that it looks like there were no Jeeves and Wooster stories during World War II
- The Mating Season (1949)
- Ring for Jeeves (1953) Adapted from P.G. Wodehouse’s 1952 play Come on Jeeves I don’t think this has Bertie. I may look for the play – we’ll see [Need to purchase]
- Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954) US Title Bertie Wooster sees it Through
- Jeeves Makes an Omelette (1959) A short story – a rewrite of an earlier one in the book A Few Quick Ones
- Jeeves in the Offing (1960) US Title How Right You Are Jeeves [Need to purchase]
- Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves (1963) [Need to purchase]
- Jeeves and the Greasy Bird (1966) A short story in the book Plum Pie [Need to purchase]
- Much Obliged Jeeves (1971). US Title Jeeves and the Tie That Binds
- Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen (1974) US Title The Cat-nappers