There, a bore is "a person who talks when you wish him to listen," and happiness is "an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another." This is the most comprehensive, authoritative edition ever of Ambrose Bierce’s satiric masterpiece. It renders obsolete all other versions that have appeared in the book’s ninety-year history.A virtual onslaught of acerbic, confrontational wordplay, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary offers some 1,600 wickedly clever definitions to the vocabulary of everyday life. Little is sacred and few are safe, for Bierce targets just about any pursuit, from matrimony to immortality, that allows our willful failings and excesses to shine forth.This new edition is based on David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi’s exhaustive investigation into the book’s writing and publishing history. All of Bierce’s known satiric definitions are here, including previously uncollected, unpublished, and alternative entries. Definitions dropped from previous editions have been restored while nearly two hundred wrongly attributed to Bierce have been excised. For dedicated Bierce readers, an introduction and notes are also included.Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary is a classic that stands alongside the best work of satirists such as Twain, Mencken, and Thurber. This unabridged edition will be celebrated by humor fans and word lovers everywhere.

    H. Munro), English author, is best known for his witty, sometimes whimsical, often cynical and bizarre short stories; they are collected in Reginald, The Chronicles of Clovis, Beasts and Super-Beasts, and other volumes. Contents of The Chronicles of Clovis include: Esme, The Match-Maker, Tobermory, Mrs. Packletide's Tiger, The Stampeding of Lady Bastable, The Background, Hermann the Irascible, The Unrest-Cure, The Jesting of Arlington Stringham, Sredni Vashtar, Adrian, The Chaplet, The Quest Wratislav, The Easter Egg, Filboid Studge, The Music on the Hill, The Story of St. Vespaluus, The Way to the Dairy, The Peace Offering, The Peace of Mowsle Barton, The Talking-out of Tarrington, The Hounds of Fate, The Recessional, A Matter of Sentiment, The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope, Ministers of Grace, The Remoulding of Groby Lington, and Robert Stockton.

    Brief text and illustrations introduce such strange creatures from American folklore as the snawfus, billdad, lufferlang, and tripodero.