An Adulteration Act

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 22K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.An Adulteration Act by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is a short humorous story by W. W. Jacobs built around the Adulteration Act, typically showcasing the small-town, everyday-life comedy he excelled at: the plot moves through misunderstanding and ingenuity, the dialogue is brisk, and the ending carries a twist. Its brevity makes it a good entry point into the English short story and a useful sample for studying the style of late nineteenth-century popular English humor. As you read, watch how ordinary people understand, evade, or exploit the letter of the law—this is both the source of the comedy and a reflection of the social attitudes of the time. Because it is a public-domain electronic text with no notes or introduction, individual slang terms and period background must be checked on your own; readers hoping for deep social critique or complex psychological portraiture may find it light rather than substantial.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners who want to read English short stories in fragmented time
Readers interested in English humorous literature and small-town comedy
Teachers and students who need a short text for close reading or classroom discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long, complex plots and deep character portrayal
English beginners who need a Chinese translation or detailed notes
Readers expecting serious legal or social argument

Reading tips

Read through the first time for plot and comic points; return to the dialogue on a second pass for puns and misunderstandings.
Mark slang or legal terms as you go and look them up after finishing, so the rhythm isn't interrupted.
Read alongside other Jacobs stories and identify the common pattern behind his twists.
Try reading the dialogue aloud to feel how the author creates comedy through tone.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How long is this story?

It is a short story of modest length, usually readable in one or two sittings—well suited to fragmented reading time or a single classroom discussion.

Do I need to know English law before reading?

Not systematically, but knowing that the Adulteration Act was broadly a law against adulterating goods helps you understand why the characters are nervous and how they try to exploit loopholes. The plot explains the key points as it goes, so basic comprehension isn't affected.

What is Jacobs's humor like?

It features the ingenuity of ordinary small-town people, misunderstandings, and dry humor in dialogue, with tight plots and light twists and little heavy moralizing—good for relaxed reading.

Comments

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.