Author: [BRACCIOLINI (Poggio)]:
Title: Facetiae Facetiarum Hoc est, Joco-Seriorum Fasciulus novus Exhibens variorum autorum scripta, non tàm lectu jucunda & jocosa amoena & amanda, quàm lectu verè digna & utilia, multisve moralibus ad mores seculi nostri accommodata, illustrata, & adornata.
Description: Pathopoli [? Leyden], Apud Gilastinum Severum 1657. 12mo, 127 x 67 mms., pp. [3] - 370 [371 "Ad Lectorem," 372, additional engraved title-page (as pages 1 - 2) 18th century calf, later reback, with title in gilt on spine. A very good copy Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) published this work in 1470, and it is credited with being the first book of jokes to be published. The late Dr. Barbara Bowen described it as "the most famous jokebook of the Renaissance" (One Hundred Renaissance Jokes: An Anthology [1988]), and, not surprisingly, many of the jokes are scatological or carminative. Actually, some of the jokes are not bad, and Dr. Bowen has obligingly translate the Latin, for example one about an absent-minded preacher: "Praedicabat Tibure frater parum consideratus ad populu, aggrauans multis uerbis ac destatns adulterium, dixitque inter caetera, adeo graue peccatkum, ut mallet decem uirgines cognoscere quam unicam mulierum nuptam. Hoc & multi que aderant elegissent." In other words: "A rather thoughtles friar was preaching to the people at Tivoli, and execrating adultery at great length. Among other things, he said adultery was such a dreadful sin that he would rather take ten virgins than one married woman. Many of those present would have shared his preference."

Keywords: laughter folklore lliterature


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