A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, William John Thoms (1803-85) pursued literary and bibliographical interests and conversed with the likes of Thomas Macaulay and Charles Dickens. Most notably, he coined the term 'folklore' in 1846 and founded the scholarly periodical Notes and Queries in 1849. This work, containing a selection from the 'Merry Passages and Jests', collected by a Norfolk gentleman, Sir Nicholas L'Estrange (1604-55), with shorter extracts from the anecdotes of John Aubrey, and a manuscript by one John Collet, was prepared by Thoms for the Camden Society in 1839. Thoms had compiled over 600 stories recorded by L'Estrange, but only 141 were though suitable for printing, the others being 'unfit for publication' because of their coarseness. The collection is preceded by a biographical note on L'Estrange and his family by the publisher John Gough Nichols. Other works by Thoms are also reissued in this series.
