Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Schmulowitz Collection


The San Francisco Chronicle writes about San Francisco's Schumolowitz Collection, at the SF Public Library's main branch. It is the world's largest collection of wit and humor books.

From the story...

You may never feel the urge to read "The Facetiae of Poggio," often referred to as the first joke book. But if you ever did need to peruse this volume, originally printed in 1451, you'd head to the world's largest collection of humor. And that happens to be on the top floor of the San Francisco Public Library's main branch.

The Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor comprises 21,000 books, 230 periodical titles and 29,000 audio and video recordings, spanning four centuries and 35 languages.

The collection ranges from contemporary humorists like Amy Sedaris and Dave Barry, to cartoons, proverbs, fairy tales, insult handbooks, folklore stories and current European satire periodicals like Private Eye, Eulenspiegel and Le Canard enchaîné.


And, for a chuckle this fine day, the humorous Jim Gaffigan:

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