Lest there be any confusion, Conundrums New and Old is a real joke book, published by Frederick J. Drake & Co. The jokes and riddles within were compiled (read: stolen) from many different sources by a man named John Ray, and it was released in a cheap, paperback edition in 1902.
All the jokes on “The Annotated Conundrums” are taken directly from Conundrums New and Old. The annotations, however, are your authors’ own work. We hope you appreciate the extensive research we have undertaken to help you better understand these century or more-old gags, and the people who found them funny.
