The Merry Fellow's Companion; or American Jest Book. Harrisburgh, PA: John Wyeth for Matthew Carey, 1797.

Early American joke book—a keen witness to the lighter side of the 18th-century American psyche. Full of strange anecdotes, shaggy dog stories, and even a few funny jokes, this book offers up humorous takes on a variety of American cultural institutions and characters. All editions are very rare at auction, and none are recorded by RBH in over 50 years. This is the third edition, after the 1789 first. Evans 32470.

12mo (166 x 104mm). Half-title. Lacking frontispiece. (2 corners in gathering B and lower margin of C3 torn away touching a few letters, browning.) Contemporary quarter sheep with marbled boards (rubbed).

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