A Brief Narrative of the Life and Confession of Barnett Davenport...
"A Series of the Most Horrid Murders": McDade 242 Davenport, Barnett [1760-1780]. A Brief Narrative of the Life and Confession of Barnett Davenport, Under Sentence of Death, For a Series of the Most Horrid Murders, Ever Perpetuated in This Country, Or Perhaps Any Other, On the Evening Following the 3d of February, 1780. Is to be Executed at Litchfield, On the 8th of May. [Litchfield, CT?]: Printed in the Year, 1780. 15, [1] pp. Printed on pale blue-gray paper. Octavo (7-1/4" x 4-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet with untrimmed edges bound into c.1900 three-quarter morocco over marbled boards by Stikeman & Co. New York. Gilt title to spine, endpapers added. Negligible light rubbing to extremities, bookplate of Benjamin DeForest Curtiss to front pastedown, library shelf label to rear pastedown, late nineteenth or early twentieth-century bookseller description tipped-in to front endleaf facing title page. Moderate toning, light foxing in places, light soiling to title page and verso of final leaf, faint early owner name "Betsey" to foot of preface (p.3). An appealing copy of a rare account in a handsome binding with an interesting provenance. $6,500. * Only edition. According to the preface, this "narrative [was] penned from the criminal's mouth, though not always in his own words. Some moral reflections are interspersed." Davenport had indulged in criminal activity since he was a boy. His crimes became more elaborate when he became a soldier during the Revolutionary War. After deserting his regiment, Davenport became a household servant of Caleb Mallory. One night, he murdered Mallory, his wife and their grandchild while they were asleep, then robbed and burned their house. This is one of the earliest murders recorded by McDade. It is rare. OCLC locates 9 copies, 2 of them defective, 1 in a law libraries (Faulkner University). We located auction records for this title in 1900, 1905 and 1977. Benjamin DeForest Curtiss [1851-1922], the former owner of our copy, was a distinguished Americana collector who lived in Litchfield, Connecticut. Evans, American Bibliography 16756. McDade, The Annals of Murder 242.
Price: $6,500.00
Book number 73890