Shakespeare Jest-Books: 'The Hundred Merry Tales' and 'Merry Tales and Quick Answers'

Willis & Sotheran, 1864. First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Fair / No Jacket. Item #L009441

Fair in leather/boards (spine perished; hinges starting, gen ext wear). Sm 8vo [c a. 350] Edited, with an introduction and notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt. Series : Old English Jest-Books, Volume 1. 2 volumes in 1. Bound in half tan moroc co over dark red boards, gilt-stamped spine, gray endpapers. Previous owner 's bookplate present on front attached endpaper. The Hundred Merry Tales and Merry Tales and Quick Answers are two early Tudor period collections of humorous anecdotes that are often referred to as Shakespeare's Jest Books. The title comes from a reference to one of the collections in Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing.

Price: $48.00