Humour, Wit & Satire of the Seventeenth Century by John Ashton (Compiler) - 1968

New York: Dover Publications, 1968. Softcover. Good Condition. One or two light exterior marks and bumps. Contents mostly clean and bright, with uncreased pages. Ownership inscription on first inside page. A presentable used copy with no significant defects. Publisher's note: "Merrie England ;and so, in very truth, it was. All sorts of sports and pastimes, such as no other nation can show, were then in use; and even the elders, in their hours of relaxation, were wont to exchange a merry jest with one another. Perhaps some of their jokes lacked the refinement of the present age, but they denoted a keen sense of humour. Many, nay most, cannot be reproduced at the present day, and much has this book suffered therefrom ;and it is for this reason that the jest-books and ballads of this century are so little known. Some few have been printed in small editions, either privately, or for dilettante societies; but they are not fit for general perusal, and the public at large know nothing of them. This is specially the case with the ballad literature of the century, which is unusually rich. The Pepys, Roxburghe, Bagford, Luttrell, and other collections, are priceless treasures; but I know no publisher who would be bold enough to reproduce them, in their entirety, for the use of the general public. By this I do not wish to cast any slur, either on the modesty, or morality, of our ancestors; but their ways were not quite as ours. The Bibliographical Reference, which forms an A ppendix, will show the wide range that the humour of this century takes; and this does not exhaust the store by any means. (Publisher)." Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: History; English wit and humor; English literature--Early modern; Great Britain; Civilization; Add. Inventory No: 230420TRNAZX031065. .