They were written about in 1905, simultaneously with a series of three essays on sexuality.  
Examples of them discussed in a book about them include Sainte-Beuve's criticism of Flaubert's Salammbo and the word "anecdotage," which was coined by De Quincey.  In the first of them to be discussed, a lottery agent named Hirsch-Hyacinth boasts about being treated well by Baron Rothschild.  The author was inspired to consider them after reading an 1898 book by Theodor Lipps, who emphasized the active creation of them.  The book about them began as a study of Jewish ones in particular, but expanded as the author argued that they are generally intended to reduce mental expenditure.  They were written about in 1905, simultaneously with a series of three essays on sexuality.  FTP, name this linguistic phenomenon, whose "relation to the unconscious" is the subject of a book by Sigmund Freud.
Examples of them discussed in a book about them include Sainte-Beuve's criticism of Flaubert's Salammbo and the word "anecdotage," which was coined by De Quincey.  
Jokes (accept Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious; for that matter, accept Der Witz or even Der Witz und Seine Beziehung Zum Unbewussten)