JOE MILLER’S JESTS, WITH COPIOUS ADDITIONS. EDITED BY FRANK BELLEW. COPY OF THE TITLE-PAGE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. JOE MILLER’S JESTS; OR, THE WIT’S VADE-MECUM: being a collection of the most brilliant Jests; the politest _Repartees_; the most elegant _Bon mots_, and most pleasant short Stories in the _English_ language. First carefully collected in the company, and many of them transcribed from the mouth of the Facetious _Gentleman_, whose name they bear; and now set forth and published by his lamentable friend and former companion, Elijah Jenkins, Esq. Most humbly inscribed to those Choice Spirits of the Age, Captain Bodens, Mr. Alexander Pope, Mr. Professor Lacy, Mr. Orator Henley, and Job Baker, the Kettle-Drummer. London: Printed and sold by T. Read, in Dogwell Court, White’s Fryars, Fleet Street. MDCCXXXIX. PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE NORTHERN MAGAZINE, 39 PARK ROW, NEW-YORK. 1865. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by A. BELLEW, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. PREFACE. A few years ago, at a dinner party in England, a very good story was told by one of the company, who represented the hero of the anecdote as a well-known nobleman then living. This story was immediately pronounced to be an “old Joe.” On this, a warm discussion took place, when it came out incidentally, that not one of those present had ever seen the book so familiarly referred to. This discovery aroused the curiosity of one of the party, who immediately resolved to procure a copy of the work―a most difficult and costly matter. Having procured the book, he decided to republish it for the benefit of his benighted fellow-countrymen, and the following volume is the result. A singular fact connected with this work is, that every body presumes that he himself, and every other person, is perfectly familiar with its contents; and yet, if the reader will ask his friends, it will appear that not one in a thousand ever set eyes on a copy; indeed, we doubt much whether there are a dozen persons in the United States who have ever seen the work.