St. Luke's Parish Malt!!! Fairburn's Edition of the Trial Between...
"A Figure with the Body, Feet, And Tail of a Rat, With the Head and Face of a Man, (Resembling the Plaintiff)" [Trial]. Wood, William, Defendant. St. Luke's Parish Malt!!! Fairburn's Edition of the Trial Between Doctor Smith and Mr. Wm. Wood: For a Malicious and Scandalous Libel Against the Said Doctor Smith, Contained in a Print, Or Picture, Commonly Called a Caricature!! Intitled, "The Inside of a Newly-Reformed Workhouse with All Abuses Removed": In Which Caricature was Depicted 4 Sacks of Parish Malt and a Figure with the Body, Feet, And Tail of a Rat, With the Head and Face of a Man, (Resembling the Plaintiff), Nibbling at Them: Also a Figure of a Women in Breeches, Pulling the Rat by the Tail Intended to Represent the Plaintiff's Wife: With the Defendant Charging the Vestry-Clerk with Receiving ?45 for Bastardy of an Adjoining Parish who with Satan at his Elbow, Prompting Him to Tell a Good Fat Lie, Denies the Charge, &c.: Including the Evidence at Full Length, Taken in Short Hand. Which was Tried in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, On Wednesday, January 20, 1813, Before Lord Ellenborough, And a Special Jury. London: Published by John Fairburn, [1813]. 24 pp. Octavo (8" x 5-1/4"). Disbound stab-stitched pamphlet. Light browning and foxing, moderate edgewear, final few leaves partially detached, negligible light soiling to exterior, "5" in early hand to head of front wrapper. A rare title. $750. * First and only edition. "This was an action brought by John Smith, a surgeon and apothecary, (...) against William Wood, a boot and shoe maker, (...), in the same parish; to recover a compensation in damages for publishing a gross, scandalous, and malicious, libel, in the form of a caricature picture, or print, (...) tending to injure and defame the character of the plaintiff.-The damages were laid at one thousand pounds" (pp. 3-4). The court found for the defendant. OCLC locates 1 copy (Cornell University). Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:1191.
Price: $750.00
Book number 69500