The Fatal Effects of Gambling Exemplified in the Murder of Wm....
"The Source of Forgery, Robbery, Murder, And General Demoralization" [Thurtell, John (1794-1824)]. [Probert, William (d.1825)]. [Hunt, Joseph]. The Fatal Effects of Gambling Exemplified in the Murder of Wm. Weare and the Trial and Fate of John Thurtell, The Murderer and His Accomplices: With Biographical Sketches of the Parties Concerned and a Comment on the Extraordinary Circumstances Developed in the Narrative, In Which Gambling is Proved to be the Source of Forgery, Robbery, Murder, And General Demoralization: To Which is Added, The Gambler's Scourge: A Complete Expose of the Whole System of Gambling in the Metropolis, With Memoirs and Anecdotes of Notorious Blacklegs. London: Published by Thomas Kelly, 1824. xxii, 459 pp. 10 copperplate engraved leaves and pictorial title page. Lacking copperplate portrait of Thurtell. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5-1/4"; 20.95 x 13.33 cm). Contemporary three-quarter calf over marbled boards, rebacked retaining existing spine, gilt tooling to boards along edges of calf, blind ornaments, gilt fillets and lettering piece to spine, endpapers renewed. Heavy rubbing to boards, lighter rubbing to extremities, crack in text block between main title page and following leaf. Moderate toning to interior, foxing to preliminaries and sections of text. A good copy overall. $650. * Only edition. John Thurtell, an unlucky gambler, was deeply in debt to the bookmaker William Weare. Deciding to take revenge, Thurtell, along with his friends Joseph Hunt and William Probert, murdered Weare in a grisly manner and tossed his body into a pond. Thurtell tried to escape conviction. He was hanged. Hunt confessed his involvement and stated that Thurtell was the killer. He was sent to the penal colony in Botany Bay, Australia. Charges against Probert were dropped in exchange for his wife's testimony, which minimized his role in the crime. British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) 26:829.
Price: $650.00
Book number 84795