R S Surtees: 13 books

The English comic novelist R. S. Surtees wrote sporting and satirical masterpieces, shining a light on the foibles and obsessions of early Victorian England. He created Mr. Jorrocks, one of the great comic characters of English literature, a Cockney grocer obsessed with fox hunting, whose various...

Robert Smith Surtees was a dedicated sportsman who portrayed (and satirized) English fox-hunting society with great verve in his humorous novels. Published in 1847, Hawbuck Grange follows the adventures of Thomas Scott, Esq., an avid sportsman. The novel includes one of Surtees’s most memorable passages: an exhilarating account of a hare hunt.

Here is another of Surtees’s comic novels—this one sure to delight with its captivating portrait of Victorian absurdity. Renowned for his entertaining insight into the foibles of English hunting society, Surtees’s novels continue to delight readers today.

This vintage book contains Robert Smith Surtees' 1849 novel, "Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour". Light-hearted and wonderfully written, this volume follows Mr. Sponge, a quirky nineteenth-century hunting enthusiast with odd habits and a unique world view. A humorous and entertaining read, "Mr. Sponge's...

This vintage book contains a novella written by R. S. Surtees and first published in 1909. A witty and entertaining story based around fox hunting, "Jorrocks on 'unting" is highly recommended for readers with an interest in the sport, and would make for a fantastic addition to collections of related...

Ask Momma, Or The Richest Commoner In England by R. S. Surtees.

Surtees' novel features his great comic creation, the cockney grocer and sportsman Jorrocks. A series of incidents in the life of Jorrocks, the novel is without plot—but includes chapters on hunts, rivals, heroes, cooking, and much more.

John Jorrocks—a “renowned sporting citizen”—is the first character created by English comic writer Robert Smith Surtees. Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities is one of the author’s most celebrated and entertaining novels. A humorous narrative of the hunting, shooting, racing, sailing, and other “eccentric and extravagant” exploits of a good-natured sportsman and Cockney grocer.

“The following story does not involve the complication of a plot.” So states the preface, setting the tone for the humorous tale that follows. The Victorian novel tells of two generations of the Pringle family—Mamma, or Miss Emma Willing is a seamstress whose son Fine Billy goes to enjoy romance, hunting, and courting in high society.

Facey is a trickster who takes advantage of society's greed and gullibility, and gets away with it. This brisk, entertaining novel is the sequel to Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour.

The hero of this classic novel of English humor is Soapey Sponge, whose game is fox hunting and fortune hunting. With its delightful surprise ending, this humorous novel leaves a lasting impression for its comical moments and its evocative descriptions of fox hunting over open country.

Facey Romford is often mistaken for a wealthy man of the same name. He decides to capitalize on the case of mistaken identity and becomes Master of Hounds of the Heavyside Hunt, taking advantage of English hunting society’s gullibility—and he may even get away with it.