Book #68424
Item #68424 The Trial of Sir John Piers, Bart, For Criminal Conversation with. Trial, Sir John Piers, Defendant.
The Trial of Sir John Piers, Bart, For Criminal Conversation with...

The Trial of Sir John Piers, Bart, For Criminal Conversation with...

He Seduced Her to Win a Bet [Trial]. Piers, Sir John [1772-1845], Defendant. The Trial of Sir John Piers, Bart. For Criminal Conversation with Eliza, the Wife of Valentine Viscount Cloncurry Before Lord Chief-Justice Downes, In the Court of King's Bench, Dublin; On February 19, 20, 1807. With the Letters Between the Parties. London: Printed for and Sold by R. Butters, [1807]. 44 pp. Lacking portrait frontispiece. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5-1/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into period-style quarter morocco over marbled boards, gilt titles and ornaments to spine, endpapers renewed. Disbound stab-stitched pamphlet. Moderate toning to text, light foxing to a few leaves, edgewear and a few minor holes to title page, "2" in early hand to upper margin. $600. * Only edition. Piers, 6th Baronet of Tristernagh Abbey, was an Anglo-Irish baronet and a notable rake. His notoriety dates from his 1807 adultery trial involving Elizabeth Georgiana, Lady Cloncurry, the wife of an old school friend (and creditor), Lord Cloncurry. The trial established that Piers had seduced Lady Cloncurry as part of a bet. Lord Cloncurry was awarded the enormous sum of ?20,000 in damages, the largest award granted in a criminal conversation case. The scandal attracted a great deal of attention and secured Piers a footnote in history. This case was the subject of John Betjemin's poem Sir John Piers and a 1978 BBC documentary The Bold Bad Baronet. COPAC locates 1 copy (National Library of Scotland). OCLC locates 5 copies, 3 in North America (Temple University, University of Missouri-Columbia, Yale Law School). Not in the British Museum Catalogue.

Price: $600.00

Book number 68424

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