Facetiously yours

Scholars often trace the origins of the modern joke book to the irrepressible Poggio Bracciolini and his Facetiae—a Renaissance volume that, if not quite the Big Bang of European humour, certainly set the universe of wit in motion.

Published in 1470, Facetiae (translated as ‘Jokes’ from the Latin ‘facetus’ for ‘witty’) is where the humanist love of clas…