Verses Composed on the Murder of G. Kalabergo. Birmingham, 1852.
"Killed by His Own Nephew": The Rare Sensational 1852 Banbury Murder Broadside [Broadside]. [Murder]. Handy, William [1824-1896]. Verses Composed on the Murder of G. Kalabergo. Birmingham: William Pratt, Printer, Digbeth, [1852]. Broadside. 14-3/4" x 10" (37.6 x 25.3 cm). Text in two columns divided by an ornamental typographic rule below a bold headline; enclosed within an elaborate woodcut border. Moderate toning, original fold lines, sparse light foxing, and minor edgewear. A very good, crisp survival of a fragile ephemeral piece. $1,850. * First and only edition of this rare true-crime broadside ballad, written by the Warwickshire vernacular poet William Handy of Ilmington. The text recounts the sensational 1852 murder of Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Kalabergo, an Italian jeweler and 40-year resident of Banbury. In a notable case of avunculicide, Kalabergo was shot in the head on Williamscote Hill by his 22-year-old nephew, Guglielmo (often anglicized as William), whom he had brought from Italy to assist in his clockmaking business. Guglielmo initially claimed they were ambushed by highwaymen, but a police search uncovered bloodstained clothes and matching bullet molds. Following a brief, heavily publicized trial at the Oxfordshire Lent Assizes and a dramatic escape attempt from a holding window, Guglielmo was executed at Oxford Castle before a crowd of 10,000. This ballad represents one of only three known surviving works by William Handy. It stands as a significant artifact of mid-19th-century street literature and regional English printing, published by the prominent Birmingham broadside printer William Pratt. OCLC locates 2 copies globally (British Library, Oxford University/Bodleian). Not found in Library Hub.
Price: $1,850.00
Book number 86254