The art of joking; or, an essay on witticism; in the manner of Mr. Pope's essay on criticism: with Proper Examples to the Risible Rules. To which is addedd The laws of laughing, and the contrast, or A Joke and a Jest, In small compass exprest.
London.
Printed for Joseph Deveulle, [s.d., 1774?]
First edition.
8vo.
63pp, [1]. With a half-title. Uncut. Stitched, as issued. Closed central horizontal tear to browned and stained half-title.
An uncommon survival, in original state, of the sole edition of a pseudonymous pamphlet probing contemporary conditions of wit.
Though claiming affinity with Alexander Pope's (1688-1744) meditation on competent artistic evaluation, Essay on Criticism (1711), the work bears little comparison aside from being predominantly composed in verse.
'Smilewell', writing at a time when theories of laughter had begun to predominate the literary market, proclaims: 'Laughing is that noble faculty which distinguishes man from beast, which shews the rationality of the soul, that can be moved independent of the sense'. However, much space is given to more base forms of comedy, incorporating racial and ethnic dynamics of superiority and disadvantage, suggesting that reason and careful speech degrades into blundering foolishness and contradiction in the mouths of the Irish, whilst simultaneously highlighting the ridiculous and risible nature of English imitation of the Irish dialogue in comic scenes.
ESTC records copies at four locations in the British Isles (BL, Cambridge, Manchester, and Private Collections), and a further five worldwide (Alexander Turnbull, Huntington, Illinois, Minnesota, and Yale).
Though claiming affinity with Alexander Pope's (1688-1744) meditation on competent artistic evaluation, Essay on Criticism (1711), the work bears little comparison aside from being predominantly composed in verse.
'Smilewell', writing at a time when theories of laughter had begun to predominate the literary market, proclaims: 'Laughing is that noble faculty which distinguishes man from beast, which shews the rationality of the soul, that can be moved independent of the sense'. However, much space is given to more base forms of comedy, incorporating racial and ethnic dynamics of superiority and disadvantage, suggesting that reason and careful speech degrades into blundering foolishness and contradiction in the mouths of the Irish, whilst simultaneously highlighting the ridiculous and risible nature of English imitation of the Irish dialogue in comic scenes.
ESTC records copies at four locations in the British Isles (BL, Cambridge, Manchester, and Private Collections), and a further five worldwide (Alexander Turnbull, Huntington, Illinois, Minnesota, and Yale).
ESTC T22457.
£ 750.00
Antiquates Ref: 25733
