[ LIMERICKS]. The Limerick. 1700 Examples, with Notes, Variants and Index. Edited by Gershon Legman. 517, [2] pp. 8vo., 225 x 160 mm, bound in recent half morocco. Uncut and Unopened. Paris: Les Hautes Études, 1953.

The largest collection of Limericks ever published, erotic or otherwise. Indeed, no less than two thirds of these seventeen hundred examples had ever before appeared in print, as they were gathered from oral sources. Gershon Legman, the anonymous editor, provides variant lines, couplets and conclusions, with variants cited for geographical and personal names, and a full index of names and rhymes -- truly an exhaustive study. A detailed bibliographical description of each printed source is also included.

The seventeen hundred naughty lyrics have been mischieviously divided into various subject headings, viz., Assorted Eccentricities, Abuses of the Clergy, Little Romances, Weak Sisters, and many, many others (most of which are too indelicate to list). A fine copy of this definitive edition.