Rastell's A Hundred Merry Tales was the first English jest book, and would set a pattern for succeeding generations, who came to see it as a window on a lost 'Merry England.' Originally published in 1524-5, this charming collection of amusing (sometimes scurrilous) anecdotes was celebrated by contemporaries among the defining books of the Tudor era, and is even name-checked by Shakespeare. This new edition of A Hundred Merry Tales presents...