Out of an abundance of caution, Leacock changed many characters' names before the sketches were published together in book form.

[2] The stories in the book were initially published as a sequence of short literary pieces serialized in the Montreal Daily Star from February 17 to June 22, 1912.

Leacock reworked the series – by the means of additions, combinations, and divisions (but no deletions) – and assembled it as the book's manuscript.

[citation needed] The cast of the series included John Drainie as the Narrator, Paul Kligman as John Smith, Timothy Findley as Peter Pupkin, Eric House as Dean Drone, Peg Dixon as Liliane Drone and Robert Christie as Golgotha Gingham.

[citation needed] A second television adaptation premiered on CBC in 2012, and stars Gordon Pinsent and Jill Hennessy.

The stories are a mix of fact and fiction; drawing on details of Leacock's own life and that of his literary creation.