History of English Humour

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History of English Humour; with an Introduction upon Ancient Humour, by Rev A G L’Estrange. London: Hurst & Blackett. 1878. Two volumes.

A not-particularly-scholarly review of English humour, starting with David and Solomon(!). Volume 1 traces the history of humour up through Congreve, and Volume 2 includes Southey, Byron, and a bit on the difficulty of defining humour.

DP Project, Volume 1

Volume 1: PG 18300

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DP Project, Volume 2

Volume 2: PG 18906

By the way, Volume 2 has an oddity, which I think indicates a different sort of humour: Chapter 15 is skipped — both in the Table of Contents and in the book. I think it’s probably the chapter on Practical Jokes.

Thanks to Janet Blenkinship for post-processing this set!