Some favourite subjects:
Some favourite subjects:
Kawaraban. [Yoroppa Jin Zu]. n.p. [mid 19th century?]. Woodcut 31x24cm. Rather good. Au$800
Europeans - this is a handy guide to the pesky foreigners who were beginning to swarm around Japan like jackals around a small but plump antelope.
Kawarabans were illicit illustrated news sheets for the streets and produced by the million for a couple of hundred years so of course few survive. They were produced for anything more interesting than the drop of a hat.
[Roshia Jin]. n.p. mid c19th. 40x28cm, ink drawing in colour. Sometime laid down, browned around the edges, old horizontal fold. Au$450
A good, very good, portrait of an important Russian made at the time that these foreigners began swarming around Japan in hopes of an treaty. The Russians raced to beat Perry as soon as they heard his squadron was on the move but weren't fast enough. Still, they with England, France and Germany managed get some share of the pie.
I think all those seals are collector's seals, a sign that this has long been regarded as pretty damn good. That pose, one hand over the heart (or guarding a wallet?), the other clutching a weapon appears on a few kawaraban and prints with changes in weaponry and decorations. I repeat that, to me, there is seldom any point in trying to track what was copied from where in pictures like these; rather enjoy the variations on a theme.
FIELDING, Henry. An Enquiry Into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers, &c. With some proposals for remedying this growing evil ... the second edition. London, Millar 1751. 12mo contemporary (or publisher's?) calf (rubbed and a bit crazed, small chip from the spine, hinges cracking but firm); xxii,203pp. A little browning at the very ends, a rather good, fresh copy. With the half title advertising the book at 3/- bound, 2/6 sewn; bookplate of diplomat and Pennsylvanian folklorist Henry W Shoemaker. Au$375
A timely best-seller. This second edition followed the first edition (which had an uncommonly large print run of 1500 copies; this second edition was even larger, with 2000 copies) by about six weeks, with minor revisions and corrections. Fielding's social and magisterial conscience made him a strenuous pamphleteer and this was his most important and influential foray into social and legal reform. The gin craze and other pernicious 'luxuries' rampant among the lowest classes; the civic 'lethargy' of government; the incoherent and helpless systems of policing and prosecution all fall under Fielding's inspection. Credit has been given, and is in some measure due, to this work for the Gin Law of 1751 and the inception of the modern police force.
It is also a vivid picture of the degredation of London's poor or 'commonalty'. The three page notice 'To the Public' at the end advertises the establishment of a registry of servants in order to obviate the scourge of rudeness and insolence of servants hired without any good character.
Slavery. [Gilbert Francklyn?]. A Very New Pamphlet Indeed! Being the Truth addressed to the people at large. Containing some strictures on the English Jacobins ... respecting the Slave Trade. London, printed in the year 1792. Octavo, disbound; 16pp. Au$495
The very model of a modern refutation, our writer has used all the methods still used to condemn reformers; in this case the abolitionists. By the second sentence the witnesses brought forward by the abolitionists have been "committed to take their trial for perjury." Before the end of the first page the abolitionists - Wilberforce, Clarkson et al - are attached to radical fanatics and Jacobins set on destroying Britain - no small charge in 1792. By page two the secret society of "Old Jewry" - a Presbyterian meeting house - has been unearthed and we learn that the testimony offered by these radicals comes from "discarded servants, starving surgeons, sailors taken drunk from the stews, or parsons convicted of adultery."
There are several points of coincidence between this and the anti-abolitionist writings of slave trader Gilbert Francklyn - and "Mr Francklyn" gets one brief mention, for being magnificently humane - but it may be that our author simply mined Francklyn for material. Certainly Francklyn's known pamphlets were never so thoroughly anonymous as this.
Whoever the author, this received a snappish note in the Monthly Magazine. The Critical Review was also hostile and that hostility extended to a reply to this pamphlet, 'Old Truths & Established Facts' which has been ascribed to Thomas Paine. This second work, Paine or not, was condemned for its lack of originality; our pamphlet for its "scarcely defensible" stratagem of joining the abolitionist with latterday levellers.
BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. An Inquiry, Whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, by Our Present System of Prison Discipline. Illustrated by descriptions ... sixth edition. London, for John & Arthur Arch &c. 1818. 12mo, uncut in original boards (spine chipped); viii,184pp, 4pp publisher's adverts. A little browning, a few spots; quite a good copy with the bookplate of Robert Dundas, Viscount Melville, administrator, politician, statesman &c who gave his name to several spots around the world including two in Australia. Au$350
Six editions of this inflammatory little book appeared in 1818, this being the last of course. Much of its power comes from the fact that the descriptions of all prisons (with the exception of Philadelphia) are first hand - dates and names are specified - and that, despite some repugnance, he has not suppressed 'scenes which may be considered as reflecting discredit on those who ought to have prevented them'. The immediate result of this was the Society for the Reformation of Prison Discipline and more indirect influences can be followed through translations into European languages over the next few years.
Buxton was born, bred and then married into the heart of British philanthropy - his mother was a Quaker do-gooder and he married Hannah Gurney, Elizabeth Fry's sister - and his life was devoted to reform: this is his first book and his last (1839) is on slavery.
BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. An Inquiry, Whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, by Our Present System of Prison Discipline. Illustrated by descriptions ... sixth edition. London, for John & Arthur Arch &c. 1818. 12mo, uncut in modern boards; viii,184pp; some spotting or browning but a very acceptable copy. Au$300
Six editions of this inflammatory little book appeared in 1818; all and any are uncommon. Much of its power must be attributed to the fact that the descriptions of all prisons (with the exception of Philadelphia) are first hand, dates and names are specified and that, despite some repugnance, he has not suppressed 'scenes which may be considered as reflecting discredit on those who ought to have prevented them'. The immediate result of this was the Society for the Reformation of Prison Discipline and more indirect influences can be followed through translations into French and Italian over the next few years.
Buxton was born, bred and then married into the heart of British philanthropy - his mother was a Quaker do-gooder and he married Hannah Gurney, Elizabeth Fry's sister - and his life was devoted to reform: his first book (this) is on prison reform and his last (1839) on slavery.
Otsuki Genkan. [Seion Hatsubi]. n.p. [182-?] 26x18cm original wrapper; 3;31;7 double folded leaves (ie 82pp). Some worming, only of moment on a couple of leaves where a couple of characters are obliterated. In a modern chitsu. Au$275
An extraordinarily exact manuscript copy of this pioneering study of western pronunciation by one of the more eminent scholars of Dutch studies. The Seion Hatsubi was published somewhere around 1826 and this is obviously contemporary. Our copyist has skipped the publisher's advertisements at the ends but has otherwise done a job that needs more than a cursory glance to discern from the printed book, even to the extent of reproducing the seals at the beginning and end of the preface. There is a fine tradition of manuscript copies of rare or supressed books in Japan but this is the most exact facsimile I've seen. There is an inscription and small seal inside the back cover that may well identify the transcriber but I can't read it.
[Johannes van den Bosch]. de KEVERBERG, [Charles Joseph], Baron. De la Colonie de Frederiks-Oord, et des Moyns ... traduction d'un manuscript u General-Major van den Bosch ... avec une preface. Gand, Houdin 1821. Octavo, uncut and unopened in the remains of original plain wrappers (stitching loose); lxxii,110pp and two plates. Au$500
It has been argued that van den Bosch's Benevolent Society and this first paupers' agricultural colony at Frederiksoord - begun in 1818 - are less an experiment in utopian idealism than the model for the modern prison farm. Certainly from the two plates (one is a plan and view of a colonist's house, the other a birds-eye view of part of the colony) it looks, from this distance, less than utopian. Bleak is the word I'd use. Still, being a Lowlands pauper just after the Napoleonic wars can't have been much of a picnic.
Federiksoord was, to be fair, less punitive than the younger colonies at Veenhuizen where inmates were walled in to prevent escape but, looking at the dreary wastelands of Drente sretching out in every direction, it is hard to imagine where to escape to other than the bottle.
Van den Bosch's record in introducing forced agriculture to the Dutch East Indies has won him few accolades from post-colonial historians but there is no doubt that his intentions here, while hardly charitable, do share some attributes of social reform with contemporaries like Robert Owen.
Baron de Keverberg (Charles Louis Joseph I believe - his younger brother, also Baron, seems to have been named Charles Frederick Joseph; they were both government administrators and active social reformers at the same time but our Baron has the more distinguished history) has added a lengthy preface and notes to his translation of Bosch's manuscript, roughly doubling the work.
SPURZHEIM, J.G. A View of the Elementary Principles of Education, founded on the study of the nature of man. Edinburgh, for Constable 1821. Octavo slightly later half calf (rubbed); 360pp. Scattered spots or browning. Au$750
Abram Combe's copy inscribed with his name and address; the writing of his name looks like George Combe's hand. His brothers George (who revised and had published this book) and Andrew, were the most ardent disciples and prominent expositers of Spurzheim's doctrines but Abram (who seems the most interesting of them) is best known as a disciple of Robert Owen. He ruined himself building an Owenite community in Lanarkshire and died in 1827. There are probably as many phrenologists as quakers among the social reformers of the 19th century and many of them, despite modern views of phrenology, can still be regarded as progressives in the best sense. Spurzheim himself though has a mixed record. Many of his ideas of reform will now be viewed with abhorrence as the foundation of social engineering in the worst sense. And he will be considered no friend of women - here he responds sternly to Mary Wollstonecraft, points out her fundamental error in regarding herself as emblematic of women, and outlines an approach to education that accounts for both the individual and irreconcilable differences between the sexes.
[BERTOLDI, Giuseppe ? or Jakob Bartholdy?] Memoirs of the Secret Societies of the South of Italy, particularly the Carbonari. London, John Murray 1821. Octavo contemporary calf (front hinge neatly repaired); xvi,235pp and 12 lithographs by Hullmandel, seven folding including a charming large folding view of a meeting shrouded in smoke or mist. A few spots, a nice fresh copy with half title. Au$600
First edition; it was written in French, a second language for the author, with the view of being translated and published in London. The attribution to Giuseppe Bertoldi is unlikely as far as I can see; the Risorgimento poet was barely born when this appeared. German librarians confidently ascribe the book to Jakob Ludwig Salomon Bartholdy - the Prussian Consul-General in Rome - and other librarians have attributed it to a Bertoldi without forename.
Corn. [CLAYE, Rev William]. A Supplementary Letter to the Right Honorable Lord William Bentinck. Corn Importation, &c. Newark, printed by S. & J. Ridge 1826. Broadside 375x235mm, printed with manuscript notes. Folded with a manuscript docket title on the back: "Mr Claye's Letter to Ld. W. Bentinck - sent to me ^by him^ Nov 24 1826". The letter is dated in print Nov 4, 1826 from Westhorpe, Notts. Au$90
The Rev William Claye of Westhorpe, Chaplain to the Duke of Grafton, is noted as being an owner of extensive tracts of land in Shilton's 1818 history of the area - which makes somewhat disingenuous his adding the clergy to the "humble classes of life," to whose lives the measure of May 1826 added "Distress and Misery". Unlocated in Copac and OCLC.
Yoshio Shunzo (or Nanko or Josan depending on the translator) & Kusano Yojun. : [Rigaku Nyushiki : Ensei Kansho Zusetsu]. Nagoya, Tohekido 1826 (Bunsei 9). Three volumes 23x16cm publisher's wrappers with title labels (covers fairly dusty and smudged, particularly the front of the first and back of the third); 12 woodcut illustrations in the first volume including a quite up to date world map in two hemispheres and two plates with overlays and volvelles. A rather good set. Au$1650
This study and explanation of western astronomy appeared with different imprints, sometimes dated, between 1823 and 1828. Many cataloguers take their date from the end of the text (Bunsei 6) rather than any publisher's details. Comparing Waseda's copies and this one I'm convinced these are not just printed from the same blocks but are the same sheets with new titles and publisher's matter inserted at each end.
Yoshio was by descent a sort of follower of Shizuki Tadao who introduced to Japan at the end of the 18th century the notion of an heliocentric planetary system but whose work never got beyond manuscripts read by a few friends and followers. Goodman ('Japan and the Dutch') tells us that Yoshio used two fairly basic Dutch books and Tadao's writings to illustrate the systems of Ptolemy, Brahe and Copernicus in the first volume; deals with the sun, earth, planets, stars, constellations, comets and so on in the second and third; and finishes with an appendix on Tadao's attempt to reconcile a Newtonian universe with Chinese tradition.
HINGSTON, John. To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, The humble Petition of the Labouring Poor of Great Britain, sheweth, ... Exeter, printed by Featherstone 1827. Two integral foolscap leaves, 4pp with gap left for an address. Folded and addressed, with post marks, to Viscount Milton with the added notation, "Petition of the Labouring Poor from Exeter". A small hole from opening the wax seal. Au$400
A radical, near utopian, demand for the Labouring Poor to have half what they pay in indirect taxes spent for their benefit. The first radical part is in the method of collecting the money: it is to come from what goes to the army and navy and by whacking taxes on the nobility, gentry and landed proprietors. Then we step up a notch. The ten million pounds raised would be handed over to associations of a thousand persons and eventually lead to universal property ownership, the abolition of Negro Slavery and a "revolution ... such as few ever contemplated ... which elevates the mind above all the previous actions of mankind". We finish with a scarely veiled threat about the madness of opposing the masses - "all power flows from them, they are now confident of that power".
Milton, later Earl Fitzwilliam, was long time MP for Yorkshire having been thrust by his father into Parliament when still underage. By 1827 his reputation of obstinancy and impractibility was well established and he and his family were described by Creevey as "the ugliest and most dismal race I ever beheld". Unlocated in Copac and OCLC.
Wakefield, Edward Gibbon. Facts Relating to the Punishment of Death in the Metropolis. London, Ridgway 1831. Octavo, uncut in original boards (neatly rebacked); xii,198,[2 advert]pp. A crisp copy. Au$900
First edition. Parents of underage heiresses may have wished Wakefield hanged but he wasn't in any great danger in Newgate. So he was able to become a good example of his own precept - that it was certainty rather than severity of punishment that works: he never kidnapped another wealthy teenager.
ALCOTT, William A. Essay on the Construction of School-Houses, to which was awarded the prize offered by the American Institute of Instruction, August, 1831. Boston, Hilliard Gray &c 1832. Octavo disbound; 66pp, two full page plans. Some spotting or browning but a pretty good copy. Au$300
The first American work devoted to school buildings and their design. Alcott is not celebrated in architectural history, after all he was no architect but an educator, reformer and pamphleteer. But "the characteristic form of schoolhouses was established with the 1832 publication of William A. Alcott's 'Essay on the Construction of School-Houses'. Alcott stressed the importance of light, fresh air, and space in his designs." (Doggett and Wilson). Alcock was not dogmatic about the style of the building but he was about everything else, the site and landscaping, the timber for the floorboards and blackboards, the size and placing of each student's book box, the placing of coat pegs. All was to be healthy, rational, beneficial and beneficent.
The American Institute of Instruction was itself new; this was the beginning of a new movement for universal education. Over the next few years these ideas spread, often in the briefest form: Alcock's plan and key. In 1839 the superintendent of schools in Michigan submitted Alcock's plan with few modifications to the legislature and this was in turn reprinted in a Connecticut journal.
Giichi Akita. [The entry used by Worldcat names him Hodo Akita]. [Sanpo Jikata Taisei]. Tokyo, Kitajima Junshiro &c 1837 (Tenpo 8). Five volumes (25x18cm) publisher's wrappers; 4,156 double folded leaves, numerous woodcut illustrations. A spot of worming in the first cover and a touch in another volume, a rather good set. Au$350
First edition of this manual of land management and surveying, published at a troublesome time in Japanese history: the 1830s brought a movement, fiercely resisted by the authorities, towards the adoption of western science and technology and, relevant to this book in particular, a period of horrendous drought, famine and unrest in rural Japan. Land surveying was primarily concerned with taxation and, before the Meiji reforms, accurate measurement was not only unimportant but unwanted. The extent and value of land was a matter for negotiation.
The intricacies of Japanese land surveying in the early modern period demand long learned essays - and after reading a couple I'm none the wiser - but what is clear is that this book is a major work in the history of rural engineering, survey and management. It was also problematic for the authorities: "problems in surveyor education were aggravated by government censorship. Bakufu officials did not want administrative uses of survey techniques discussed in public. Under the guise of 'respect authority; despise the people (kanson minpi),' the mysteries of official practice were not to be released to the public domain." (Brown: A Case of Failed Technology Transfer - Land Survey Technology in Early Modern Japan; 1998).
The authorities did suppress or attempt to suppress the Sanpo Jikata Taisei; Brown refers us to the preface of the 1976 reprint of this book for details and I came across another reference that claimed the woodblocks were destroyed. This seems fairly scarce outside Japan; the title is well represented in western libraries but once we discard the 1976 reprint I found only two libraries with originals through Worldcat.
CHEVALLIER, Edgecumbe. The Shipwrecked Mariners; a poem. London, In Aid of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Benevolent Society [1843]. Octavo printed wrapper (chipped and detached); [20]pp, wood engraved illustrations throughout. Stained; a somewhat shipwrecked copy but complete and worth saving. With the inscription of Capt. F. Stephens of 226 Cumberland Street, Sydney. Au$60
Rare and captivating. Both lachrymose and thunderous, the dramatic verse illustrates the perils and tragedies of the sea, with some explanatory notes about specific wrecks, and exhorts British hearts - those hearts be praised - to subscribe a trifling annual sum to the Benevolent Society. The wood engravings are particularly apposite.
GRAY, Francis C. [Calley]. Prison Discipline in America. London, Murray 1848. Octavo half morocco; 203pp. Ex parliamentary library with their gilt crest on the front board and incorporated into the spine, old manuscript shelf ticket, no other markings; some spotting of outer few pages but quite a good copy. Au$105
English edition using the Boston sheets with a new title inserted. One of the first handful of American prison reformers, Gray focussed on the instances of insanity, particularly caused by solitary confinement, based largely on two of the most progressive of American prisons - Philadelphia and Charlestown. He also canvassed European and English opinion, experience and reform. Gray was an example of the ideal Boston gentleman; lawyer by profession, humanitarian by leaning, he was also a pioneer photographer, art collector and member of just about every cultured and learned association there was.
Russian ship. Putyatin. A Bunkindo woodcut of a supposedly Russian ship. Nagasaki, Bunkindo 1853? Coloured (by stencil or hand?) woodcut on brown paper, 25x37cm. Minor rumpling. Au$475
This presumably is one of Putyatin's ships that arrived in Nagasaki in August 1853 in attempt to match any treaty Perry managed to force on Japan. Like most of these hurried prints produced to capitalise on such dramatic occurrences old, sometimes ancient, woodcuts were dusted off and reworked. In this case it's clear that a Dutch ship has been rebranded Russian. Russian enough: there are still Dutch flags flying. This saved a lot of mucking about, sending an artist down to draw each ship. Few customers would ever see the actual boat.
The British Museum has a more expected Nagasaki print which I swear is from the same block, with text and a crudely added vignette. That text labels it a Dutch ship - "Hollandsche Schip" even though flags have been made Russian. I'd guess the block cutter couldn't read that bit and left it alone. I'm yet to find the original - all Dutch - print and I'm not sure it matters. It was likely adapted from another print anyway. The grandfather of this print, as far as I'm aware, is the print of the Dutch ship Shellach from 1782 and Bunkindo published 'Hollandsche Schip' prints galore drawn from that Shellach print.
There is no text but Bunkindo's seal, lower left. Bunkindo were prolific publishers of Nagasaki prints of things foreign from the late 18th century into the 1850s. I wonder whether the band on deck playing large twirling horns was an improvement introduced for Koops' arrival in 1844 when Bunkindo went to town with prints showing the visiting band's French horns. I also wonder if the paper here as been dyed with persimmon juice, it's certainly persimmon colour. Books expected to be used a lot - like a lending library - were often dipped in persimmon juice to strengthen the edges of the paper but I've never seen another c19th print on brown paper like this. My guess is that Bunkindo were looking for ways to brighten up a well thrashed image. This is not a beautiful print. It's no triumph of Japanese craftsmanship but it is an intriguing example of the souvenir industry that thrived in Nagasaki for Japanese tourists.
PRIDEAUX, T. Syme. Dishonesty Exposed. Report on Experiments Made on Board H.M.S. 'Imperieuse' in June 1856, with Prideaux's Self-Closing Furnace-Valve-Door, and the Common Door. [London, privately printed] 1857. Octavo disbound; 16pp. Inscribed 'With the Author's Compts.' Au$65
This is not, as one might hope, the rant of a thwarted crackpot. Prideaux was a well established and well regarded engineer but there is no less bile and fury here for all that. This close account of the scurrilous and fraudulent behavior of those controlling the tests and their inexplicable loyalty to the current equipment is unweighted by too much technical data fortunately and we can read it as an entertaining and telling example of frustrating intransigence in the way of progress. Prideaux ends by offering to equip the navy with his invention without charge and take two years saving in costs as renumeration for the cost of fitting and as payment for the patent.
At the end are testimonies including one by the Captain of the Imperieuse (who was not part of the conspiracy) and a couple of engineering heavyweights - Charles May and William Fairbairn.
[PHILP, Robert Kemp]. Life Doubled by the Economy of Time. London, Houlston & Wright [1859?]. Octavo publisher's decorated cloth blocked in blind and gilt; 160pp, frontispiece. A bit rubbed and the green cloth somewhat faded but quite a good copy with a distinguished provenance: the signature of E.P. Senhouse of Netherhall and in pencil he (she?) notes that it was lent on the 3rd September 1862. Probably just as well, the quite ancient Netherhall and much of its contents were lost through neglect forty to fifty years ago. I see from a tiny note inside the back cover it had reached Steve Finer in Massachusetts by 1996 and it was recently in Michigan but the rest of its history is still blank. Au$95
Philp was a prodigious compiler of self help and useful books so clearly his system for redeeming time must work. His frontispiece diagram is a template, not a ready made. It must be impressed into the memory and adapted. Philp himself sees it as a sort of large projection slide which he can "mentally throw ... upon the wall", which seems intrusive. "My Diagram is constantly before me, appealing to me for action."
That action can be associated with simple memory prompts; thus the hour 4 (presumably after breakfast?) entry "A - B -'s, Error, Fenning's" would sort out problems in what seems a problematic life - what with this damn wheel following him around - call at A - B -, order more stock and point out the error in their last account; then to Fenning's Wharf to ascertain the delay in delivery of goods. Added to the Diagram are The Tablet, The Diary and The Bioscope. I leave you to figure them out.
HOWARD, Thomas. On the Loss of the Teeth; and on the best means of restoring them. London, Simpkin & Marshall 1859. Small slender octavo publisher's blindstamped cloth; 62,[1]pp and a charming frontispiece printed in blue with a before and after overlay. An over possessive medico's bookplate and blindstamp on the front endpapers, rather a good copy. Au$200
A successful little book it seems, there were several printings between 1852 and 1862 (the publishers claim 27 by 1857). Howard, surgeon dentist to the Archbishop of Canterbury, at first seems to approve of artificial teeth made of hippo tusk but later points out that they don't last long. There are similar problems with ivory, gold and natural teeth (recycled from other mouths) which understandably disturb persons of "extreme sensibility and delicacy of feeling". He has, though, invented a "new description of composition teeth" which are "perfectly incorruptible" - their "durability is unbounded".
By 1863 Howard had moved from Hanover Square to Fleet Street and extended his hours from 11 till 4 to 10 till 5. Whether this means a thriving business or desperate decline I can't tell.
MURRAY, Lindley. [Igirisu Shobunten] Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar. n.p. n.d [186-?]. 18x12cm publisher's wrapper with title label (rubbed). Quite good. Au$300
This is the first part and I know a second part exists because Waseda has a copy - but not this first part. Worldcat finds neither and a hunt through Japanese libraries doesn't help much. No-one seems clear on when this appeared but it is likely to be with the beginning of government schools and is a good partner for the version of Murray's spelling book published by the Tokugawa Kaiseidzio school in 1866.
Urine. Carlo Magnani-Riccoti. Il Sindaco della Citta di Novara - Manifesto. Novara, Miglio 1862. Broadside 56x39cm tipped on card. Old folds, a nice copy. Au$200
Magnani-Roccoti, first mayor of modern Novara, warns the citizens of Novara that the piss sodden streets of the city will be tolerated no more and that police will prosecute with utmost rigour anyone sploshing urine around the place. I wonder whether the urine issue was related to the recent invention of a beverage by Signor Campari of Novara. And I wonder why the existence of a manifesto against piss strikes me as irresistible.
Rough Nights' Quarters. By one of the people who have roughed it. Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas 1866. Octavo disbound; 32pp, title vignette. A mild darker stripe along the front edge where it must have been bound with something smaller. Au$65
This is a spluttering response to an expose in the Pall Mall Gazette for which an undercover reporter spent 'A Night in a Workhouse'. There is more to it but I finished this pamphlet with the notion that the upright British homeless are a tougher breed than the milksop reporter and any that weren't just needed a decent public school education followed by a hunting expedition to toughen them up.
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