A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words / Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.

by John Camden Hotten

1646

This work has an engraving on wood which is said to be the veritable original of Jim Crow.

SWIFT’S coarser pieces abound in vulgarities and slang expressions.

THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or Ingenuity display’d in its Perfection, being the Newest and most Useful Academy, Songs, Art of Love, and the Mystery and Art of Canting, with Poems, Songs, &c., in the Canting Language, 16mo.

J. Clarke, 1735

What is generally termed a shilling Chap Book.

THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or the Canting Dictionary, being the Newest and most Useful Academy, containing the Mystery and Art of Canting, with the original and present management thereof, and the ends to which it serves and is employed, illustrated with Poems, Songs, and various Intrigues in the Canting Language, with the Explanations, &c., 12mo.

Dublin, N.D.

A Chap Book of 32 pages, circa 1760.

THOMAS (I.) My Thought Book, 8vo.