The Project Gutenberg EBook of My First Book, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: My First Book:
the experiences of Walter Besant, James Payn, W. Clark
Russell, Grant Allen, Hall Caine, George R. Sims, Rudyard
Kipling, A. Conan Doyle, M.E. Braddon, F.W. Robinson, H.
Rider Haggard, R.M. Ballantyne, I. Zangwill, Morley Roberts,
David Christie Murray, Marie Corelli, Jerome K. Jerome,
John Strange Winter, Bret Harte, "Q.", Robert Buchanan,
Robert Louis Stevenson, with an introduction by Jerome K.
Jerome.

Author: Various

Release Date: July 13, 2010 [EBook #33148]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY FIRST BOOK ***

Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from scanned images of public domain material
from the Internet Archive.)

[Illustration: book's cover]

MY FIRST BOOK

PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON

[Illustration: signed: Yours sincerely,

Jerome K. Jerome]

MY FIRST BOOK

THE EXPERIENCES OF

WALTER BESANT

JAMES PAYN

W. CLARK RUSSELL

GRANT ALLEN

HALL CAINE

GEORGE R. SIMS

RUDYARD KIPLING

A. CONAN DOYLE

M. E. BRADDON

F. W. ROBINSON

H. RIDER HAGGARD

R. M. BALLANTYNE

I. ZANGWILL

MORLEY ROBERTS

DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY

MARIE CORELLI

JEROME K. JEROME

JOHN STRANGE WINTER

BRET HARTE

'Q.'

ROBERT BUCHANAN

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

JEROME K. JEROME

_AND 185 ILLUSTRATIONS_

London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1894

INTRODUCTION

By JEROME K. JEROME

'Please, sir,' he said, 'could you tell me the right time?'

'Twenty minutes to eight,' I replied, looking at my watch.

'Oh,' he remarked. Then added for my information after a pause: 'I
haven't got to be in till half-past eight.'

After that we fell back into our former silence, and sat watching the
murky twilight, he at his end of the park seat, I at mine.

'And do you live far away?' I asked, lest, he having miscalculated, the
short legs might be hard put to it.

'Oh no, only