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Thalia — the muse of Comedy

general humor, satire, parody, spoofs, jests
and just plain funny stuff.

“It is a theory of mine, that those gifted with truly humorous genius are more useful as moralists, philosophers, and teachers, than whole legions of the gravest preachers. They speak more effectually to the general ear and heart, even though they who hear are not aware of the fact that they are imbibing wisdom.”

Joseph C. Neal.

Exhibits

Torey's Favorite First:

A Poe-em of Passion

by
C. F. Lummis

The Best:

The Rheumatism Movement-Cure

by
Robert J. Burdette

Ballad

by
Charles Godfrey Leland

Belphagor

by
Niccolo Machiavelli

Banging the Sensational Novelist

Anonymous

The Despairing Lover

William Walsh

__________________________

By Frederic S. Cozzens:

The Sparrowgrass Papers
&
Sayings, Wise and Otherwise
which incorporates
The Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker and other Learned Men

containing:

A Talk about Tea,
Journey Around a Tapioca Pudding,
The Radiant Dinner-Castor,
Chocolate and Cocoa,
Notables and Potables,
A Peep into a Salad Bowl,
Madame Follet,
Old Phrases,
Art,
Accidental Resemblances,
Sitka: Our New Acquisition,
Phrases and Filberts,
"Does Queen Victoria Speak English?",
The Noses of Eminent Men,
Bunkum Museum,
Up the Rhine,
The First Oyster-Eater,
A Literary Curiosity, by Col. Peter A. Porter
The Race of the Hare and the Hedgehog, on the Little Heath by Buxtehude, by Walcott Gibbs
What is the Cause of Thunder?,
A French Breakfast, by Paul Dinet
Dainty Hints for Epicurean Smokers, by Charles G. Leland
Was Champagne Known to the Ancients? by Julian Verplanck
German Wines, and a Wine Cellar, by Henry Leland
A Christmas Piece,
Oxyporian Wines, by Julian Verplanck
My First Drama,
Wives and Weathercocks,
Indian Summer — When?
La Creche,
Gypsies,
Private Theatricals,
Trinity Church-yard,
Homes for Old Men

__________________________

By Poggio Bracciolini:

The Facetiae of Poggio and Other Medieval Story-Tellers,

translated by Edward Storer

Facetia Erotica by Poggio Fiorentino

Anonymous Translator

__________________________

The Height of the Ridiculous

by
Oliver Wendell Holmes

__________________________

All the Rest (really funny, lame, and so-so, mixed):

From Half-Hours With The Best Humorous Authors, selected and arranged by Charles Morris:

Volume II
American

Brown Bread Cakes

by
Gail Hamilton

The Old Clock

by
James Nack

A Piano in Arkansas

by
Thomas B. Thorpe

Maidenly Culture

Anonymous

Essay on Animals
&
A Mormon Romance — Reginald Gloverson

by
Charles Farrar Browne (Artemus Ward)

Aunt Pen's Funeral

by
Harriet P. Spofford

The High-Road to Fame

by
Charles B. Locke ("Petroleum S. Nasby")

Aunt Anniky's Teeth h

by
Katharine S. McDowell

Anonymous:
The Book-Canvasser
&
The Merchant and the Book-Agent

The Marriage of Baptiste

by
Timothy Flint

Pan in Wall Street. A.D. 1867.

by
Edmund Clarence Stedman

Epigrams

The Rheumatism Movement-Cure

by
Robert J. Burdette

Aunt Patience's Dough-Nuts
&
A Family Jar

by
Anonymous Authors

The Results of Phrenology

by
James K. Paulding

Darius Green and His Flying-Machine

by
T. Trowbridge

That Man

by an
Anonymous Author

How Jube Waked the Elephant

by
Mrs. M. Sheffey Peters

Peter Funk

by
Asa Greene

The New Church Organ

by
Will Carleton

The Hospital for Liars

Anonymous

__________________________

Greek Wit: Aristippus and Bias

Monks and Giants

by
John Hookham Frere

Joe Miller's Jest Book
aka
Mark Lemon's Jest Book

Mother's Geese

by
George Barr Baker,
George C. Chappell
and
Oliver Herford,
Pictures by T. Gilbert White

The Bachelor's Thermometer

by
James Smith

Miseries of Human Life

by
James Beresford

The Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon

Slams of Life, with Malice for All And Charity Towards None Assembled in Rhyme by J. P. McEvoy, with black and white interruptions by Frank King.
including:
The Flu
&
The Stranger
&
That's a Gift

Inside Stuff: A Gastronomical Fantasy

by
Theodore Pratt

A very funny play!

The Mischievous Ape

by
Matteo Bandello
translated by Thomas Roscoe

The Lover of Lies

by
Ortensio Lando
translated by Thomas Roscoe

The Oxford Solar Myth

by
R. F. Littledale

The Song of the Cynic

Early Rising

by
John Godfrey Saxe

On Cyclones

by Bill Nye

with

The Man and the Goose

by Ambrose Bierce

The Villager and the Snake

by
George T. Lanigan

The End of the World

by
Oliver Herford

Boyhood in a New England Hotel

by
Simeon Ford

The Repository of Wit and Humor; comprising more than One Thousand Anecdotes, Odd Scraps, Off-Hand Hits, and Humorous Sketches;

selected and arranged by
M. Lafayette Byrn, M. D.

On Sneezes

by
William Mathews

The 'Best' from:
Hearty Jokes and
Drummers Yarns

__________________________

From The Worlds Wit and Humor:

Volume I (complete)
American

Benjamin Franklin:
Poor Richard to the “Courteous Reader,”
The Whistle,
Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout,
Friends and Acquaintances
Franklin as a Teetotaler,
Maxims,
The Ephemera
Model of a Letter, etc.
To Miss Georgiana Shipley
Franklin at Versailles
Epitaph for Himself

The Battle of the Kegs

by
Francis Hopkinson

The Revenge of St. Nicholas

by
James K. Paulding

Washington Irving:
Wouter Van Twiller
Wilhemus Kieft
Peter Stuyvesant
Antony Van Corlear
General Van Poffenburgh
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

A Fragment
&
Domestic Happiness

by
Fitz-Greene Halleck

The Horse-Swap
&
Georgia Theatrics

by
Augustus B. Longstreet

My First Visit to Portland

by
Seba Smith

The Mosquito

by
William Cullen Bryant

A Monody

by
Robert C. Sands

Old Grimes

by
Albert Gorton Greene

Nathaniel Hawthorne:
The British Matron
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe

N. P. Willis:
Miss Albina McLush
Love in a Cottage
Tom Fane and I

Who Paid for the Prima Donna?

by
Edmund Quincy

Oliver Wendell Holmes:
An Aphorism and a Lecture
Foreign Correspondence
Music-Pounding
Dislikes
The Deacon's Masterpiece (“The Wonderful One Horse Shay”)
My Aunt
The Ballad of the Oysterman
The Height of the Ridiculous
A Walk with the Schoolmistress

The Minister's Wooing

by
Harriet Beecher Stowe

A Proposal
&
Practical Jokes

by
William Tappan Thompson

Deacon Marble
&
The Deacon's Trout

by
Henry Ward Beecher

__________________________

From The Worlds Wit and Humor:

Volume X — Rutebœuf to Balzac
French (Complete)

____________________

The Ass's Testament

by
Ruteboeuf

How a Peasant Won Paradise by Wit

by
Doun de Laverne

Advice to a Friend on Marriage

by
Eustache Deschamps

Ballad of Proverbs
&
All Things Except Myself I Know

by
Francois Villon

One Ducat for a Horse
&
A Lady's Passion for a Cordelier Cured with a Stick
&
The Miracle of the Lighted Candle

by
Margaret, Queen of Navarre
from The Heptameron

Money

by
Jehan du Pontalais

The Usurer's Paternoster

by
An Unknown Author (15th Century)

The Lost Hatchet
&
Prognostications
&
Lending and Borrowing
&
Concerning Diogenes and Drink

by
François Rabelais

On Being Tossed in a Blanket
&
On Sending Some Lions of Red Wax

by
Vincent Voiture

The Soul of the Cabbage

by
Cyrano de Bergerac

A Language Lesson
&
Harpagon’s Method of Money-Lending
&
An Interview with Trissotin
&
Monsieur Purgon
&
The Jealousy of Le Barbouillé
&
The

by
Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 'Molière'

Ragotin’s Civility
&
Strolling Players

by
Paul Scarron

Maxims and Sentences

by
François de la Rochefoucauld

On Fasting
&
On Usury
&
On Mental Reservations

by
Blaise Pascal

The Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse
&
The Council of the Rats
&
The Crow and the Fox
&
The Peasant’s Choice of Punishments

by
Jean de la Fontaine

Two Imaginative Innkeepers

by
Philippe Quinault

The Quack Practises

by
Edmé Boursault

Annoyances of Paris
&
To Perrault
&
On Cotin

by
Nicolas Boileau

The Trial for Sheep-Stealing

by
Brueys and Palaprat

The Archbishop’s Veracious Secretary
&
The Universal Fire Cure
&
Dialogue Between Two Chimneys
&
Asmodeus Emerges from the Bottle

by
René le Sage

The Cowardly Marquis

by
J. F. Regnard

Menippus
&
Nicander
&
Iphis
&
Thoughts

by
Jean de la Bruyère

The Suffix “Rama”
&
Madame Firmiani’s Reputations
&
Useful Stuttering
&
A Slight Misunderstanding
&
Innocence
&
The Government of the Shrewmouse

by
Honoré de Balzac

__________________________

How to Translate German
&
Odd Ideas
&
Solitude

by
Lionel Strachey

Irish Bulls

Anonymous

Short Citations

of
George Meredith

Extracts from Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.

by
E. O. Somerville
and
Martin Ross

The Rabbit's Eye

A Legendary Tale from Korea

The One-Legged Crane
Three Girls and Their Talk
The Stolen Pig

by
Giovanni Boccaccio

The Making of Master Messerin

by
Rustico di Filippo

What I Should Like to Do

by
Cecco Angolieri

The Ridiculous End of Morgante and Margutte

by
Luigi Pulci

The Inheritance of a Library
&
The Silver Cup and the Lamprey

by
Masuccio di Salerno

Living in Bed

by
Francesco Berni

What Astolfo Saw in the Moon

by
Ludovico Ariosto

Of a Trick Played upon Some Monks by a Donkey

by
Matteo Bandello

A Lawsuit and Some Domestic Vicissitudes
A Compulsory Marriage at Sword's Point
Criticism of a Statue of Hercules

by
Benvenuto Cellini

Call Me Not John!

by
Giovanni Della Casa

Diatribe Against Water

by
Francesco Redi

Forcing a Match
A Female "Solicitor of Lawsuits."

by
Carlo Goldoni

In Praise of Small People

by
Carlo Frugoni

Uninvited Guests

by
Carlo Gozzi

On Reciting One's Own Compositions
Dialogue Between Fashion and Death
Dialogue Between the Earth and the Moon
The Academy of Syllographs
The Origin of Laughter

by
Giacomo Leopardi

The Purchase of a Greek Manuscript

by
Alberto Nota

Don Abbondio's Encounter with the Outlaws

by
Alessandro Manzoni

On Musical Instruments

by
Antonio Ghislanzoni

Methods of Making a Living
&
The Penalty for Deceived Husbands

by
Paolo Ferrari

The Pythagorean Problem

by
Enrico Castelnuovo

Edmondo d'Amicis:
The Conscript
Tooth for Tooth
Pride

The Cheese-Eating Snake

by
Hurtado de Mendoza

The Demoniac

by
Lope de Vega

Truth and Falsehood

by
Luis de Gongora

Sleep

by
Baltasar del Alcazar

Miguel Cervantes:
The Attack on the Windmills
Great Battle Against a Flock of Sheep
Rascalities of Rincon and Cortado
Doctor Glass-Case

To-Morrow

by
Tome Burguillos

José Morell:
Advice to an Innkeeper
To a Poet

The Mayor of Zalamea — Act I

by
Calderon de la Barca

Tomas Yriarte:
The Musical Ass.
The Eggs.
The Bear, the Ape, and the Pig

Two Rival Lovers Gulled

by
Manuel de los Herreros

Minguillo's Kiss

by
An Anonyous Author

José de Larra:
Joys of Journalism
Don Candido Buenafé's Ambitious son

Antonio Ribot y Fontseré:
Maximum and Minimum
Eccentric Briton

The Friend that Sticketh Closer than a Brother

by
Juan M. Villergas

Pedro de Alarcon:
Courting by Invective,
Captain Veneno's Proposal of Marriage,
The Account Book

Doctor Pertinax

by
Leopoldo Alas

Founding a Provincial Newspaper

by
Palacio Valdés

The Hungry Englishwoman
(from “The King of the Mountains”)
by
Edmond About

__________________________

More Edmond About:

Brief Biography
Extracts from:

The King of the Mountains
&
The Man with the Broken Ear.

__________________________

The Novelle Antiche (Ancient Tales)

translated by
Thomas Roscoe

The Novels of Sacchetti

translated by
Thomas Roscoe

A Sublime Elopement

by
Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield

Happy December, Sad January?

by
Juno Wye

The Logical Vegetarian

by
G. K. Chesterton

The Undergraduate's Aunt

by
Francis Anstey

The Gridiron

by
Samuel Lover

__________________________

Tales from the Italian and Spanish,

Volume III,
Tales of Humor and Adventure (Complete):

Belphagor, by Niccolo Machiavelli,
Perfidious! by Girolamo Rovetta,
The Patient With the Plague, by Giovanni Sabbadino,
The Wonderful Parrot, by Italo Mario Palmarini,
Ciacco Gets Even, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
The Return of the Corsair, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
Saving the Grapes, by Count Carlo Gozzi,
The Courier's Defense, by Ascanio Mori Da Ceno,
The Journey of the Monk, by Giovanni Bottari
A Resurrection, by Anton-Francesco Doni,
The Lost Bracelet, by Count Carlo Gozzi,
The Gentleman Baker, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
The One Who Broke the Pipe, by Emilio De Marchi,
The Pious Brigand, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
The Faithful Servant, by Marco Cademosto Da Lodi,
The Persian Peasant, Anonymous,
The Three Blind Beggars, by Franco Sacchetti,
The Dutiful Son, by Franco Sacchetti,
The Thief and the Cavalier, by Luigi Sanvitale,
The Interloper, by Girolamo Parabosco,
The Bandit Chief, by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio,
The Teacher Taught, by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino,
The Fearsome Man, by Franco Sacchetti,
The Escape from the Tomb, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
Funeral Eulogies, by Eugenio De Marchi,
Calandrino's Mistake, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
Calandrino's Pig, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
Alimek, by Francesco Soave,
The Disguise, by Matteo Bandello,
Two Capons for Nothing, by Alessandro Sozzini,
Turlendana Returns, by Gabriele D'Annunzio,
The Gentle Art of Lying, by Ortenso Lando,
A Fifteenth Century Spiritualist, by Masuccio of Salerno,
Currado's Cook, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
The Gallow's Ghost, by Anton-Frencesco Grazzini,
Martellino Escapes, by Giovanni Boccaccio,
On the Housetop, by Neera,
His Beloved Wife, by Masuccio of Salerno,
The Sorcerer, by Grazia Deledda,
The Lost Purse, by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio,
The Woodcutter's Ass, by Michele Colombo,
R. Schumann: Op. 68, by Antonio Fogazzaro,
The Shouting Corpse, by Masuccio of Salerno,
The Fountain of Pietrarsa, by Renato Fucini,
The Alchemist, by Celio Malespini,
A Provincial Family Feud, by Matilde Serao,
An Italian Lear, by Giovanni Brevio,
Making the Will, by Giovan-Francesco Straparola
Eden Anto, by Antonio Fogazzaro,
The Fat Ebony Carver, Anonymous,
The Colonel, by Renato Fucini,
The Instruction Bettered, by Girolamo Parabosco,
The Cares of Prosperity, by Luigi Capuana.

__________________________

From The Rise and Fall of the Mustache and Other Hawkeyetems

by Robert Burdette:

The Rise and Fall of the Mustache
Getting Ready for the Train
Driving the Cow
Voices of the Night
The Demand for Light Labor
Infantile scintillations

__________________________

A German Picture of the Scotch

from
Dickens’s Household Words.

The Naughty Greek Girl

Anonymous

On Lending a Punch-Bowl

by
Oliver Wendell Holmes

François Rabelais:
The Lost Hatchet
Astrological Predictions

Will Irwin:
Warrior the Untamed

Preface to 700 Limerick Lyrics

by
Stanton Vaughan

__________________________

From The Wit and Humor of America, edited by Marshall P. Wilder:

Volume III (complete)

An Arkansas Planter

by
Opie Read

The Auto Rabaiyat

by
Reginald Wright Kauffman

A Ballade of the “How To” Books

by
John James Davies

The Bohemians of Boston

by
Gelett Burgess

The Courtin’

by
James Russell Lowell

The Crimson Cord

by
Ellis Parker Butler

The Diamond Wedding

by
Edmund Clarence Stedman

Dislikes

by
Oliver Wendell Holmes

A Dos’t o’ Blues

by
James Whitcomb Riley

The Dying Gag

by
James L. Ford

Elizabeth Eliza Writes a Paper

by Lucretia P. Hale

Garden Ethics

by
Charles Dudley Warner

The Genial Idiot Suggests a Comic Opera

by
John Kendrick Bangs

Hans Breitmann’s Party

by
Charles Godfrey Leland

The Hired Hand and Ha’nts

by
E. O. Laughlin

In Elizabeth’s Day

by
Wallace Rice

In Philistia

by
Bliss Carman

A Letter From Home

by
Wallace Irwin

The Little Mock-Man

by
James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphant Annie

by
James Whitcomb Riley

Mammy’s Lullaby

by
Strickland W. Gillilan

Maxioms

by
Carolyn Wells

Morris and the Honorable Tim

by
Myra Kelly

Mr. Stiver’s Horse

by
James Montgomery Bailey

My First Visit to Portland

by
Major Jack Dowling (aka Seba Smith)

My Sweetheart

by
Samuel Minturn Peck

The New Version

by
W. J. Lampton

Our New Neighbors at Ponkapog

by
Thomas Bailey Aldrich

The Plaint of Jonah

by
Robert J. Burdette

The Retort

by
George P. Morris

The Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark

by
Wallace Irwin

Rollo Learning to Read

by
Robert J. Burdette

Selecting the Faculty

by
Baynard Rust Hall

Southern Sketches

by
Bill Arp

The Tower of London

by
Artemus Ward

A Traveled Donkey

by
Bert Leston Taylor

The Tree-Toad

by
James Whitcomb Riley

The Two Automobilists

by
Carolyn Wells

The Two Business Men

by
Carolyn Wells

The Two Housewives

by
Carolyn Wells

The Two Ladies

by
Carolyn Wells

The Two Young Men

by
Carolyn Wells

Uncle Simon and Uncle Jim

by
Artemus Ward

Wamsley’s Automatic Pastor

by
Frank Crane

Wild Animals I Have Met

by
Carolyn Wells

__________________________

The Greco-Trojan Game

by
Charles F. Johnson

Cobb's Bill of Fare

by
Irvin S. Cobb
Illustrated by Peter Newell & James M. Preston