NEWSPAPER Heraclitus Ridens: At a Dialogue between Jest and Earnest, Concerning the Times. No. 2 (Feb. 8, 1681) - no. 82 (Aug. 22, 1682). 81 issues. Folio. Printed for B.T. Tooke. 1681-82
28 x 17cm. (11 x 7 inches.) 2 pages. Weekly. Trimmed close to all edges with occasional sl. loss of text, lacking no. 1, no. 2 partially defective & later issues sl. browned, nos 38 & 40 trimmed & folded to fit within volume, some occasional sl. dusting with sm. folds to corners of approx. 20 issues, some sl. but inoffensive waterstaining; issues generally good & clean. Disbound.
¶Nos 1-82, Feb. 1681 - Aug. 1682. ESTC 1844. Also called Heraclitus Ridens: or a Discourse between Jest and Earnest, where many a True Word is pleasantly spoken in Opposition to Libellers against the Government. Attributed to Thomas Flatman, a poet, artist and lawman, Heraclitus Ridens is the first example of a Dialogue paper, providing political commentary in the form of a conversation between two speakers (Clarke). A Tory 'authorised Comic Weekly' (Bourne), it attacks the Whigs and rails against France amidst the fear of Catholicism and the ongoing rumours of the 'Popish Plot'.
Stock #46628
£750
46, Great Russell Street - (opp. British Museum) - Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3PA
