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 these comic stories in modern spelling with comprehensive notes. It is the first edition to draw on all four available source editions, and the first to bring together all 103 tales published under this title by John Rastell, including rediscovered ‘lost’ passages.