Tit Bit Tale, First Edition (1 results)

Folio, pp. 8; title page a little soiled at foot, else a very good copy, in new boards. First edition. A bawdy tale about a man who marries a much younger wife, who soon becomes bored and seeks pleasure elsewhere; as a notorious coquette, she becomes the talk of the town. The story ends with the wife taunting her husband in an obscene way for his inability to satisfy her desires; he responds by throwing his slipper at her, and calling her a 'vile, lascivious beast'. The poem opens with an acknowledgement of earlier examples of the genre: A waggish jest, if cleanly told, As many witty Moderns hold, May be the most effectual Way A well-drawn Moral to convey; Prior's Purganti and his Hans Confirm the Maxim I advance: And hum'rous Swift and Gay, we find, And many more of Prior's Mind. The Reason which they never told, And which the Muse shall here unfold, In one short Line is easy said; A smutty Tale is oft'nest read. Foxon T320, citing an attribution to Hildebrand Jacob in a copy at the Bodleian, but there is no confirmation of his authorship. Rare: ESTC lists ten locations only.