Eight titlepages • typical of the whole
This new accession is a curious mix of 38 short works. Bound together in one single volume are some of a hyper-Protestant character (that is, anti-Romanist, anti-Mormon), some of the ‘Newgate Calendar class’(stories of criminals and their punishment), some on popular leisure (‘comic songs,’ ‘authentic history of the prize ring’) and others dealing with fires, massacres, tortures, atrocities, ‘the confessions of an undertaker,’ as well as the story of one of ‘the pretty horsebreakers of Rotten Row.’ Price of each? At least one pence, never more than 2. Readers were always told where to obtain copies, such as at the office of “H. Elliot, 475, New Oxford Street” but usually never does the pamphlet give its date of publication. Typographic style, textual content, method of illustration and other factors date and place them in the London penny press trade of the 1850s and 1860s. Taken as a whole, the volume is a marvelous array of cheap reading targeting the interests of the British working classes.
A goodly number of the penny and tuppence pamphlets in this new accession are not recorded as being held in research libraries in either the UK or the US. This makes sense because in the day of their publication, library collecting dogma did not consider their content and ephemeral form appropriate for what was deemed a ‘permanent’ collection. By the mid-twentieth century, this dogma had been replaced by a total reversal of doctrine. Ephemera of this sort was and continues to be considered the quotidian building stones of research collections.
Recently acquired • Bound in one volume with spine title: Penny Chap Book • Vol 1. A collection of 38 publications, priced 1d and 2d, printed during the 1850s and 1860s, chiefly in London.
Call number (Ex) Item 5623495
Contents
1. The Trials and Vicissitudes in the Life of Villiers Pearce. Printed & published by H. Elliot, 1856. Yellow wraps. 2d. 16pp. 2. An Authentic History of Freemasonry, ... Printed & published by . Elliot, 1853. Illus. Yellow wraps. 2d. 16pp. 3. Priests and their Victims; or, Scenes in a Convent. Printed & published by H. Elliot, 1852. Illus. Yellow wraps. 2d. 16pp. 4. Confessions of a Detective Policeman: ... Printed & published by H. Elliot, [c.1852]. Illus. cutting inserted. Yellow wraps. 2d. 16pp. 5. Mormon Revelations, being the history of fourteen females, ... Printed & published by H. Elliot, [c.1858]. Illus. cutting inserted. Yellow wraps. 2d. 16pp.. *Title headed: Appalling Disclosures! 6. Bennett's Official Account of the Great Fire near London Bridge, Shocking death of Mr. Braidwood, and great loss of life. Printed & published for the booksellers, [1861]. Two column text 16pp. 7. The life, Death, and Burial of the late Mr. James Braidwood. A.P. Shaw, [1861]. Port., illus. cutting inserted. 8pp. 8. The Dreadful Fire at the Wharves, near London Bridge with the death of Mr. Braidwood. H.Disley, printer, [1861]. Quarter sheet broadside, largely in verse. 9. The Yelverton Ballad and Love Songs, ... and Extraordinary Marriage of Teresa Longworth and Major Yelverton, ... E. Harrison, [1862]. Portraits, largely in verse. 8pp. 10. The Yelverton Marriage Case, ... Verdict of the Jury. Sold by Winn, [1861]. Tide headed: Price one penny. 8pp. 11. Narrative of the Massacres of Christians in Syria. Dreadful sufferings of women, and children cut to shreds, ... H. Vickers. Illus.id. 8pp. 12. Dassel, Adolph von. The Melancholy History and Miserable End of the Two Monsters of the Continent, the Communist Ox and the Socialist Ass. Published by the Propaganda of Good Sense (A. Munro), 1851. Without the engraving, first leaf slightly torn at inner margin. 16pp. 13. The Life and Death together with the Extraordinary Exploits of the redoubtable Gen. Havelock, ... Elliot, Panic, 1858. 1d. 8pp. 14. The Dream of Miltiades; or, The Fall of Sebastopol. By the Author of "The Battle of Inkermann". Brighton: printed at C.Tourle's Office, [1856?]. Verse. Yellow wraps. 8pp. *'The Battle of Inkermann' may be the poem by a retired Liverpool Merchant, 1855. 15. The Original Comic Song Book, compiled by Hardwick, Labern, Ramsay, &c. ... No. 11. Pattie, [c. 1850]. Illus. 1d. 8pp. 16. (Young, James) The Rev. C.H. Spurgeon in a Fix, and Completely Confounded. Printed & published by James Young, [1863]. 1d. 7pp. James Young who signs the pamphlet on p.7, describes himself as a convert to the Jewish religion. 17. Mysteries of Mormonism. A history of the rise and progress of the notorious Latter Day Saints, ... H. Wilson, [c.1855]. 1d. 8pp. 18. Anti-Conspirator, pseud. Regicide. Are refugees our enemies. Is Napoleon our ally. J. Allen, 1858. 1d. 8pp. 19. An Authentic History of the Prize Ring and Championships of England, ... (Verbatim account from "The Times" and "Bell's Life" newspapers.) Diprose & Bateman, [1860]. 16pp. 20. (Wilkes, George). A True Narrative of the Horrid Tortures practised in Naples, ... the Virgin's Kiss ... By an eye witness. H. Vickers, [c. 1860]. Illus. 1d. 8pp. 21. Watts, John. The Criminal History of the Clergyman. (No. 1.) Compiled byJ. Watts. Holyoake & Co., [1857]. 2d. 16pp. 22. The Dangers of Crinoline, Street Hoops, &c. G. Vickers, [1858]. Illus. 1d. 16pp. 23. The What is it? The extraordinary adventures, startling revelations, and narrow escapes of Du Chaillu, ... Printed & published at the City Printing Press, [c.1860?]. Illus. Front wraps with repeat illus. hand col. 2d. 16pp. 24. The Five Great Americans ... Gough, Northrop, Finney, Rarey, and Heenan. H.J. Tresidder. (Leaders of the day, no. 4.) July, 1860. 1d. 8pp. 25. The Reverend Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Continental Tour. H.J. Tresidder. (Leaders of the day, no. 10.) [c.1860]. 12pp. 26. The life of His Late Royal Highness the Prince Consort, with an account of his last moments, ... 5th edn. W. Oliver, [1862]. Port 1d. 16pp. 27. A Full Account of the Windham Lunacy Case, with anecdotes ... Elliott, [1862]. Port. 1d. Misbound but complete. 20pp. 28. Williams, Dr. A Thunderbolt for Colenso, the Heretic Bishop of Natal. Elliot, [1862?]. 1d. 16pp. 29. Appalling Narrative of Russian Atrocities: ... By a Polish Exile. H. Vickers, [c.1860]. Illus.1d. 8pp. 30. Midnight Meetings and the Social Evil !!! The life of Lucy Anderson, one of the pretty horsebreakers of Rotten Row, written by herself. Elliot, [c.1860]. Illus.1d. 8pp. 31. Tommey, Henry, Sen. Let Justice be done! The startling narrative of an old veteran who served under Wellington ... Printed & published by H. Tommey, 1863. Orig. green wraps. 1d. 12pp. 32. Mr. Somes and his foolish, mischievous, and obnoxious Beer Bill and its tyrannical effects upon the Working Classes; ... Sunday riots in Hyde Park. Farrah & Dunbar; J. & H. Purkess, &c. 1 1d. 8pp. 33. The Astounding Confessions of an Undertaker, ... Shocking Disclosures. News Agents' Publishing Co., [c.186-?]. Illus. 16pp. 34. The Manchester Murders. Manchester: John Heywood; London: G. Vickers, [1862?[. Illus. 16pp. *Sent by post with 1d stamp to M. Beggs, 37 Southampton St., London. 35. Mormon Disclosures ... Liverpool: James Gage. [c.l860?]. 1d. 16pp. *The same text as 'Mormon Revelations' q.v. 36. The Three Skeletons: a ghostly Christmas story. Revelations of a French physician. The mysterious casket. The burning furnace. The lost child. E. Harrison, [1862?]. Illus., two column text. 1d. 16pp. 37. O'Kane v. Lord Palmerston. All about the great scandal ... Published at the Office of the "City News", [1863]. With cutting tipped in at front & 4 at end. 1d. 8pp. 38. The Disgraceful Death of an English judge, in a House of Ill-Fame. Leeds: T. Pinder, [1884]. Illus.(8 pp.) *Added later to the collection.