Facetiae

Printing history

Early editions of the Facetiae are rare, and they are not yet described in an organized fashion as is common for incunabula. It was, evidently, very popular: an 1894 bibliography lists twenty editions from the fifteenth century, and states that the oldest is printed by Georgius Lauer in Rome and is known as Hain 13179 (a quarto with 110 leaves). The second oldest is called Reichling 1919 (100 leaves). The 100-leaf edition, despite having been described elsewhere as the first printing, is now generally held to be later than the 110-leaf edition, which is traditionally thought to be the editio princeps; both were printed in Rome in 1470/1471. An edition from 1473–1476, Hain 13182, was printed somewhere in Poland. Christophorus Valdarfer in Venice likewise printed an edition (with 76 leaves) in 1470/1471, and Andreas Belfortis in Ferrara printed one dated 1471. According to Lotte Hellinga, the Venice edition by Valdarfer is probably older than Lauer's edition printed in Rome, and most likely served as its exemplar.

There are surviving manuscript copies from the fifteenth century.

Tales

The last tale on farting involves a wife and her husband. The wife, observing a ram copulating with a sheep, asks how the ram chooses his mate, to which the husband answers that the ram chooses the sheep that farts. He confirms to her that humans work the same way, after which she farts, and they have sex; she farts again, with the same result. When she farts a third time, the husband says, "I'm not making love to you again, even if you shit out your soul."

References

References

1. Bowen, Barbara C.. (1988). "One hundred Renaissance jokes: an anthology". Summa.
2. Hellinga, Lotte. (1986). "Book production and letters in the Western European renaissance: essays in honour of Conor Fahy". [[Modern Humanities Research Association.
3. [http://lms01.harvard.edu/F/UM22LPV4QGJFGSYDT1UQKQPTXB1Q1CFEL3EJYA7SFG3J611E3S-29551?func=find-c&amp=&CCL_TERM=sys%3D009353150&pds_handle=GUEST MS Lat 188]. Houghton Library, Harvard University
4. Bowen, Barbara C.. (2004). "Fecal matters in early modern literature and art: studies in scatology". Ashgate.