author
Josh Billings
1818–1885
A hugely popular 19th-century humorist, he turned plainspoken advice, comic misspellings, and cheerful common sense into bestselling books and lecture-hall fame. Writing as Josh Billings, Henry Wheeler Shaw helped shape the American comic voice that readers still connect with Mark Twain’s era.
4 Audiobooks
Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings
by Josh Billings
Josh Billings' Farmer's Allminax, 1870-1879
by Josh Billings
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things
by Josh Billings
The Complete Works of Josh Billings
by Josh Billings
About the author
Born Henry Wheeler Shaw in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, in 1818, he became known nationwide under the pen name Josh Billings. Before literary success, he worked a string of jobs, and that rough-and-ready experience fed the homespun style that made his writing feel close to everyday American speech.
His reputation grew after the Civil War through newspaper pieces, books, and public lectures. He was especially known for humorous maxims written in deliberately odd spelling and grammar, a comic style that made his fake plainness part of the joke.
Though he is less widely read now than some of his contemporaries, Josh Billings was one of the best-known humorists of his day. He died in Monterey, California, in 1885, leaving behind a body of comic writing that captured a distinctly American kind of wit.