Note 9
" 'The Mixture as Before' was my original title for this collection of oddments and Mr. Abbey designed a delightful dust-jacket for it showing all sorts of intriguing people and things pouring out of a medicine bottle.  It was only when the book was already at press that we discovered that Mr. Somerset Maugham had already used this title for a book ... ... ... A hurried request was sent to Mr. Abbey that he should change the medicine bottle on the jacket to a champagne bottle and 'Tip up the Bottle' was mooted as the new title.  But several people felt that prospective readers might be misled into believing that this title denoted a book about wine; so we had to set our wits to work again.  My wife suggested 'A Good Time was had by Nearly All', which I liked immensely; yet once again I felt that readers might be misled, this time believing the book to be a novel.  My final choice 'Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts', if unimaginative, should at least mislead no one."

'About this Book' – introduction to 'Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts' 1943