BREWER (Thomas):

The Life and Death of the Merry Deuill of Edmonton. With the Pleasant Pranks of Smug the Smith, Sir John, and Mine Host of the George, about the Stealing of Venison. By T. B.

London: Printed in the Black Letter, by T. P., for Francis Faulkner Dwelling over Against St. Margaret's Hill in Southwark, 1631. Reprinyed for W. R., by J. Nichols and Son, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street. 1819 Tall 8vo, 216 x 130 mms., pp. iv, 52, vignette on title-page, later binding in blue boards, paper label on spine, which is slightly faded. Little is known about Thomas Brewer (fl. 1605 - 1640), and as ODNB notes, this was the "first of his literary works, a prose tract entitled The life and death of the merry devill of Edmonton, with the pleasant prancks of Smug the smith, Sir John and mine host of the George about the stealing of venison, appeared in 1631. This piece was written and probably printed at a much earlier date for on 5 April 1608 'a booke called the lyfe and deathe of the Merry Devill of Edmonton, &c., by T. B.' was entered in the Stationers' register. Brewer's text, reprinted in 1657, related 'the many excellent jeasts' (Brewer, sig. [A4] ll. 2–3) of Peter Fabell and the trickery orchestrated by Smug the Smith and was doubtless influenced by the popular anonymous drama The Merry Devill of Edmonton, which was reissued five times between 1608 and 1631 and was acted at the court, the Globe, and the Cockpit." I say, chaps, what merry japes.

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Book number: 9594

Catalogue: Humour

Keywords: humour jests literature

[DUNTON (John)]:

Athenian Sport: or, Two Thousand Paradoxes Merrily Argued, To Amuse and Divert the Age: As A Paradox in praise of a Paradox. Corporeal Affections remain after Separation... And so on, to the Defence of 2000 Paradoxes (or Pleasant Theses) which seem Strange, and Contrary to the Common Opinion. With Improvements from the Honourable Mr. Boyle, Lock, Norris, Collins, Cowley, Dryden, Garth, Addison, and other Illustrious Wits. By a Member of the Athenian Society.

London, Printed for B. Bragg..., 1707. FIRST EDITION. 8Vvo, 195 x 113 mms., pp. xxxii, 544, including half-title, later panelled calf, spine gilt in compartments; spine very dried and cracked, joints cracked, a so-so copy, with the armorial bookplate of Wolfe de Forenaughts on the front paste-down end-paper and the autograph of Philip De:Wolfe on the title-page, and another autograph scored through. The book comes from the Wolfe family who appear prominently in the life of George Berkeley, author Alciphon. has a variant of the Wolfe bookplate (one with the family name, "Wolfe de Forenaughts", engraved, in this case, just beneath the frame enclosing the trebled wolf-heads), and the ownership inscription, on the right-hand side at the top of the title-page, is, in this case, longer: "Phillpott: Wolfe." The "P" is unusual, being lollipop-shaped in its upper half and with a jack-boot upturn to the left in its lower half. The bookseller and general literary gadfly John Dunton (1659 - 1732) entertained, or at least tried to, several generations of British readers with prose and poetic whimsies, anecdotes, and paradoxes, one of which must be in the title, as there are only 139 paradoxes, eight of which are by John Donne. The present work was preceded by a similar, and very successful, book, Athenian Gazette, or, Casuistical Mercury, though Dunton published pretty much the same kind of book each time he went into print. Helen Berry in her ODNB entry notes that "Dunton was the first bookseller to realize the market potential among female readers: the Athenian Mercury appealed to 'all men and both Sexes', and his Ladies Dictionary (1694) was produced as a 'General Entertainment for the Fair Sex'. The poet Elizabeth Singer Rowe contributed to the Athenian Mercury, and Dunton published her Poems on Several Occasions in 1696." Stephen Parks, John Dunton and the English Book Trade (1976), no. 339.

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Book number: 9108

Catalogue: Humour

Keywords: humour performing arts literature prose

LA GOUALANA.

La Goualana, ou Collection Inmcoplette des Oeuvres Prototypes D'un Habitant de la ville de Cena [Caen], departemant du Salvocad [Calvados]; Par une Societe d'Oisifs. Premiere et Derniere Edition.

[Caen] De l'Imrpimerie de Carnaval Aine, [c 1830] Small 12mo (in 6s), 155 x 103 mms., pp. vii [viii blank] [9] - 22 [23 and 24 blank], mid 19th century half calf, marbled boards, brown morocco label; previous bookseller's ticket on front past-down end-paper, blind stamp of "Le Viaconte G l'Onor" [sic] on recto of front free end-paper. The French bookseller's catalogue description pasted to the front paste-down end-paper tell us that this facetious pamphlet derives from the name of La Gouelle, the maitre d'hotel in Caen, who died in 1828, and whose contemporaries said of him, "meritait entierement la reputation de naive et pretentieuse recherche d'elocution qu'on lui prete dans cet opuscule." I think we've all encountered maitre d's like that, not only in France, but England, the United States, Germany, etc; and a phenomenon not necessarily found in the chief waiter in a hotel. A note in pencil on the recto of the front free end-paper attribute the work to a lawyer in Caen. The only copy that I could find is in the Universite Caen Normandie.

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Book number: 9758

Catalogue: Humour

Keywords: humour French literature

MOTTLEY (John), compiler:

Joe Miller's Jests. Or, the Wit's Vade Mecum: Being A Collection of the most Brilliant Jests, Excellent Bon Mots, and the most pleasant short stories, in the English Language. With considerable additions. A Collection of Witty and Moral Sentences, And the most pointed and truly valuable Epigrams and Epitaphs, With the Names of the Authors, in such as are know. Inscribed to the Choice Spirits of the Age: A New Edition.

London: Printed and Published by J. Barker, Dramatic Repository, Great Russell-Street, Coven-Garden [no date] [1807]. 12mo, 190 x 108 mms., pp. [ii], [5] 6 - 164, engraved frontispiece, later full calf, gilt borders on covers, gilt spine, olive morocco label, all edges gilt, marbled end-papers; slight rubbing of front joint, but an attractive copy, with a curious inscription dated 1971. Joe Miller's Jests was first published in 1739, and there have probably been umpteen jillion later editions, along with facsimiles of the first edition offered for sale as a genuine first edition. Th work was compiled by Elijah Jenkins under the pseudonym of John Mottley. The comic actor and singer Josias Miller (1683/ - 1738) provided a name for the "jests," but very little of the material comes from him. OCLC locates only the copy in the BL.

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Book number: 9361

Catalogue: Humour

Keywords: humour style literature

MOTTLEY (John), compiler:

Joe Miller's Jests. Or, the Wit's Vade Mecum: Being A Collection of the most Brilliant Jests, the excellent Bon Mots, and the most pleasant short stories, in the English Language, man of them transcribed from the Mouth of the Facetious Gentleman whose Name they bear. To which are added, Choice Collections of Moral Sentences, And of the most pointed and truly valuable Epigrams in the British Tongue; With the Names of the Authors to such as are known. Most humbly Inscribed To those Choice Spirits of the Age, His Majesty's Poet-Laureat, Mr. David Garrick, Mr. The Cibber, Mr. Justice Boden's Horse, Tom Jones, the most Impudent Man living, the Rev. Mr. Henley, and Joe Baker the Kettle-Drummer. The Fourteenth Edition.

London: Printed for S. Crowder...; W. Nicol...; and J. Williams..[ no date [1772]. 12mo (in 6s), 168 x 100 mms., pp..192, engraved frontispiece, bound in later full calf, gilt rules on covers, spine ornately gilt in compartments, olive morocco label; cover a bit scratched, but a very good copy with the autograph in pencil of W. I. P. Chatto on the title-page, and the bookplates of William Turner and T. N. Abdy on the front paste-down end-paper. Joe Miller's Jests was first published in 1739, and there have probably been umpteen jillion later editions, along with facsimiles of the first edition offered for sale as a genuine first edition. The work was compiled by Elijah Jenkins under the pseudonym of John Mottley. The comic actor and singer Josias Miller (1683/ - 1738) provided a name for the "jests," but very little of the material comes from him. ESTC T63550 suggests a date of 1772 and locates copies in BL and Bodleian in this islands and McMaster in Canada and Sydney

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 10187

Catalogue: Humour

Keywords: humour style literature