Arthur Quiller-Couch was a Cornish writer who often published under the pseudonym Q. "Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900" was his most famous work. His stories have a wide range of subjects from Viking tales, satires, historical fiction, romantic adventures, tales of heroic swashbuckling, mystery and crime fiction, and sea-going adventures. The Astonishing History of Troy Town reads like a series of humorous sketches. The Table of Contents includes In which the reader is made acquainted with a state of innocence; and the meaning of the word "cumeelfo," How an admiral took one gentleman for another, and was told the day of the month, Of a blue-jerseyed man that would hoist no more bricks; and a nightcap that had no business to be where it was, Of certain lepers; and two brothers who, being much alike, loved their sister and recommended the use of globes, How an absent-minded man, that hated women, took a house by the waterside and lived therein with one servant, How certain Trojans climbed a wall out of curiosity; and of a charwoman that could give no information, Of a lady that had a musical voice, but used it to deceive, How a crew, that would sail on a washing-day, was shipwrecked: with an advertisement against women, Of a town that would laugh at the great: and how a dull company was cured by an Irish song, Of one excursion and many alarums, Of a Wesleyan minister that would improve upon nature, and thereby trained a rook to good principles, Of deterioration; and a wheelbarrow that contained unexpected things, and more.