[?LANGE (Johann Peter]:

Democritus Ridens. Sive Campus Recreationum Honestarum. Cum Exoricsmo Melancholiae.

Amstelodami, Apud Jodocum Jansonium. 1649. 12mo, 121 x 68 mms., pp. [ii], 280, printer's ornament on title-page, later (probably late 18th century) dark maroon calf, bordered in blind on covers, spine gilt in compartments to a blind ornatment, red morocco label, all edges gilt; lacks A1, which is possibly a frontispiece. A very good to fine copy, with the small book label of J. B. St. Colas Canon on the top margin of the front paste-down end-paper. Various libraries attribute this collection to Johann Peter Lange (fl. 1645), though some manage to designate his namesake, the German Calvinist theologian of the same name (1802 - 1884), who probably was not a laughing philosopher. The anecdotes themselves have little, if any, philosophical content and only serve to prove that the laughing philosopher does not laugh in vain.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 7792

Catalogue: WIT

Keywords: WIT classics prose

MOTTLEY (Johm), 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: A originally edited by John Mottley, Esq. Author of the Life of Peter the Great, &c. 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, to such as are know. Inscribed to the Choice Spirits of the Age! A New Edition.

London: Printed and Published by J. Barker, Dramatic Repository... [no date] [?1796}. 12mo, 184 x 111 mms., pp. [vi], [5] 6 - 164, engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of Joe Miller as Teague (Published by T. Rodd...), printed obituary notice on recto of leaf after portrait, with adverts on verso and next leaf, many leaves uncut, later half calf, marbled boards; front joint cracked and weak. 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. The only listing for Barker as printer and publisher in OCLC is for an edition of 1796, but adding "His Majesty's Poet-Laureat, Mr. David Garrick, Mr. The. Cibber, Mr. Justice Boden's house, Tom Jones, the most impudent man living, the Rev. Mr. Henley, and Job Baker, the kettle drummer" before "A New Edition," words which do not appear in this copy of the title-page. ESTC also gives 1796 for a similar text, but with 168 pages, and with a watermark of 1796 on the frontispiece; again, the frontispiece, with horizontal chain lines, has no watermark. The ESTC listing, T225377, seems to be for the same book, with a watermark, and 168 pages. In the above copy, the word "Finis" appears on the lower margin of page 164. This, and the presence of the black-bordered obituary suggest that this is an unrecorded edition.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 9622

Catalogue: WIT

Keywords: WIT humour prose

[WHITEHEAD (William)]:

The Goat's Beard. A Fable.

London: Printed for J. Dodsley..., 1777. FIRST EDITION. 4to, 260 x 198 mms., pp. 40, recent boards. A good copy. Whitehead (1715 - 1785) translated Pope's An Essay on Man into Latin verse, and Pope was pleased with the result. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1757. The poem alludes to one of the fables of Phaedre (and,presumably, the plant called "Goatsbeards," tragopogon)., in which the male goats complain to Jupiter that female goats have been allowed to have beards. There are also contemporary mentions of or allusions to David Garrick, Margaret de Waldemar, and various other historical females, and the issue is traditional roles and characteristics associated with the two sexes. The verse is mildly amusing.

John Price Antiquarian BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 6573

Catalogue: WIT

Keywords: WIT women literature