Eggs, Beans and Crumpets - Annotations

This is part of an ongoing effort by the members of the Blandings Yahoo! Group to document references, allusions, quotations, etc. in the works of P. G. Wodehouse. These notes are by Neil Midkiff and others as credited below.

Notes

Once again, Wodehouse’s publishers collected short stories in a different manner on each side of the Atlantic; this time, the confusion is increased from their use of the same title for their varying collections.

Herbert Jenkins Ltd. brought out Eggs, Beans and Crumpets on 26 April 1940 in the UK; Doubleday, Doran & Co. published the same title on 10 May 1940 in the US.

These notes are based primarily on the UK edition, and the pagination is based on the Penguin paperback reprint issued in 1971. A second section covers the stories included in the US edition.

This document is originally posted in outline form; annotations to individual words and phrases will be added as research proceeds.

All’s Well with Bingo (pp. 7 to 28)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, January 30, 1937, and in the Strand magazine, April 1937. It was collected in the US volume The Crime Wave at Blandings (1937) and appears in the 1982 omnibus Tales from the Drones Club.

Bingo and the Peke Crisis (pp. 29 to 50)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, May 29, 1937, and in the Strand magazine, June 1937. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets and appears in the 1982 omnibus Tales from the Drones Club.

The Editor Regrets (pp. 51 to 68)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, July 1, 1939, and in the Strand magazine, September 1939. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets and appears in the 1982 omnibus Tales from the Drones Club.

Sonny Boy (pp. 69 to 87)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, September 2, 1939, and in the Strand magazine, December 1939. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets and appears in the 1982 omnibus Tales from the Drones Club.

Anselm Gets His Chance (pp. 88 to 108)

This story first appeared in the Strand magazine, July 1937, and in the Saturday Evening Post, July 3, 1937. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets and appears in the 1972 omnibus The World of Mr. Mulliner and the 1977 omnibus Vintage Wodehouse.

Romance at Droitgate Spa (pp. 109 to 129)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, February 20, 1937, and in the Strand magazine, August 1937. It was collected in the US volume The Crime Wave at Blandings (1937) with a new introduction with Mr. Mulliner at the Angler’s Rest (appearing nowhere else; the story is not in The World of Mr. Mulliner) and appears in the 1977 omnibus Vintage Wodehouse.

A Bit of Luck for Mabel (pp. 130 to 150)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, December 26, 1925, and in the Strand magazine, January 1926. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets.

Buttercup Day (pp. 151 to 171)

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, November 21, 1925, and in the Strand magazine, December 1925. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets.

Ukridge and the Old Stepper (pp. 171 to 190)

This story first appeared in the Strand magazine, June 1928, and in Liberty, June 9, 1928. It is included in both UK and US editions of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets.

Stories included only in the US edition

The Level Business Head

This story first appeared in the Strand magazine, May 1926, and in Liberty, May 8, 1926. It is included in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937), and annotations for the story are included at Lord Emsworth and Others.

Ukridge and the Home from Home

This story first appeared in Cosmopolitan, February 1931, and in the Strand magazine, June 1931. The Cosmopolitan version is very similar to the US edition of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets; the Strand version appears in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937). Annotations for the story are included at Lord Emsworth and Others.

The Come-back of Battling Billson

This story first appeared in Cosmopolitan, June 1935, in a slightly abridged version, and in the Strand magazine, July 1935. It is included in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937), and annotations for the story are included at Lord Emsworth and Others.

Trouble Down at Tudsleigh

This story first appeared in the Strand magazine, May 1935, and in a slightly abridged version in Cosmopolitan, May 1939. It is included in the UK edition of Young Men in Spats (1936), and annotations for the story are included at Young Men in Spats.

Bramley Is So Bracing

This story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, October 28, 1939, and in the Strand magazine, December 1940. It appears in Nothing Serious (1950), in the 1977 omnibus Vintage Wodehouse, and in the 1982 omnibus Tales from the Drones Club. Annotations for the story are included at Nothing Serious.

Scratch Man

This story first appeared as “Tee for Two” in the Saturday Evening Post, January 20, 1940, and slightly revised as “Tee for Two” in the Strand magazine, September 1940. The Strand version appears in British editions of A Few Quick Ones (1959) and the Golf Omnibus (1973); the version in the US edition of A Few Quick Ones is further revised.