8vo. [2], 70pp. Uncut in contemporary navy morocco-backed decorated paper boards, ruled and lettered in gilt to spine. Extremities rubbed, marked, and browned, loss to head of spine. Endpapers browned, else internally clean and crisp. Red morocco bookplate of W. A. Foyle to FEP.

A well-executed facsimile of the first edition of one of the most influential jest books of the eighteenth-century. The eponymous Joe Miller (1684-1738), English actor, first became associated with anthologies of epigrams with the publication of Joe Miller's Jests: or, the wits vade-mecum (London, 1739), compiled by John Mottley (1692-1750) under the pseudonym of Elijah Jenkins. The immense popularity of the work led to the emergence of many imitators throughout the latter half of the eighteenth-century and the continued use of Miller's name regardless of whether they possessed any actual association to the man.

William Alfred Westropp Foyle (1885-1963), bookseller, co-founder of the eponymous bookshop on Charing Cross Road. Following his purchase of the former medieval monastery of Beeleigh Abbey in 1943, Foyle built an extensive personal library. In July 2000, following the death of his daughter and successor Christina, the library was dispersed at Christie's over three days, at the time being the most valuable English private library ever to be offered in Britain or on the Continent. Those books that remained with the family were sold by Dominic Winter Auctioneers in 2023 following the death of Foyle's grandson Christopher.