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Crimes Trials Prisons

Results 1 - 23 (of 23)

Andrews, [Christopher Columbus].

Report from Mr. Andrews, Minister Resident of the United States at Stockholm, on Criminal Jurisprudence and Crime in Sweden and Norway. Reprinted from "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1875."

London: John S. Levey, 1876. First edition. 8vo, unbound, 8 pages. Data no doubt supplied in the service of the criminal and penological reforms of the period, a report from the former Union officer-turned-diplomat Andrews on the criminal systems of Norway and Sweden; Andrews commends such features as detailed annual...

Price: $40.00

[Chicago]. Chicago Reform School.

Third Annual Report of the Officers of the Chicago Reform School to the Board of Guardians for the Year Ending September 30th, 1858.

Chicago: Daily Democrat Steam Press, 1858. First edition. Original printed wrappers, 8.25 x 5.5 inches, 40 pages. With much in the way of tabular data on the demographics of the delinquents (43 American born delinquents in 1858, 47 Irish born), education levels, crimes committed, sanitary condition of the homes from...

Price: $150.00

[Child Abuse]. John Smith (1773?-1812) and Elizbeth Smith (1785?-1812), defendants.

An Account of the Trial and Execution of John Smith, and Elizabeth his Wife, who were hanged at Ipswich, on Monday the 23d of March, 1812, for starving, beating, and torturing three unfortunate Children he had by a former wife, the eldest of whom died in consequence of its barbarous treatment . . . [caption title].

Glasgow: Printed by T. Duncan, [1812]. First edition. Broadside, 11.25 x 6.5 inches mounted on a larger contemporary leaf of cheap laid paper, this rough-timmed to approx. 12 x 8.13 inches. “It appeared in evidence that the male prisoner had three children by a former wife, who died about three...

Price: $650.00

[Crime]. [Photography].

Carte de visite (CDV) mugshot of Kansas safe robber John Alavin.

[Goff, Kansas?]: Blanton, Traveling Photographer, [1897]. Original photo measuring approx. 3 x 1.75 inches on a slightly larger mount, fine view of Alavin facing the camera. Photographer imprint to the lower edge of the mount. Printed form mounted to the verso completed in autograph ink. Per the form on the...

Price: $150.00

[Divorce]. (Burch, Mary W. Turner and Isaac H. Burch).

The Only Complete Report of the Burch Divorce Case: Containing a Comprehensive History of the Case—The Preliminary Movements, The ‘Confession’ of Mrs. Burch, Opening Speeches of Counsel, the Deposition of Parties Implicated, and All the Testimony in Full, Together with the Letters Offered in Evidence but Ruled Out by the Court.

New York: Robert M. De Witt, Publisher, (1860). First edition. 8vo, contemporary pebbled cloth spine and marbled boards, 116 pages. One of the great 19th century popular scandals, the divorce trial of prominent Chicago banker Isaac Burch and his wife, a niece of Erastus Corning. The husband alleged his wife...

Price: $150.00

[Fraud]. [Astrology]. Professor George Ruppert.

Typed letter, 3-page mechanically reproduced typescript letter on attractive letterhead, casting a supposed full horoscope reading for an unnamed correspondent.

Boston, n. d., [ca. 1903]. 3 leaves printed rectos only, 11 x 8.38 inches, text in green ink, printed letterhead and testimonials on the first lead in red and blue ink. An entertaining and extensive (likely canned) horoscope that predicts in part, “The profession you should follow is that of...

Price: $100.00

Hayden, Rev. Herbert H[iram].

The Rev. Herbert H. Hayden: An Autobiography. The Stannard Murder Tried on Circumstantial Evidence.

Hartford: Press of the Plimpton Mfg. Co., 1880. First edition. 8vo, original pictorial wrappers, 164 pages. Illus. Young Mary Stannard had become the lover of the married Methodist minister Herbert Hayden and believed she was pregnant; she then died of what appeared to be arsenic poisoning. There was much in...

Price: $150.00

[Medical Fraud]. [Trials]. Joseph Webb, defendant.

Trial of Joseph Webb, for Manslaughter, at York Summer Assizes, 1834; Containing the Brief, (Drawn up by Mr. Finch,) and all the Important Depositions, Taken on Oath, to Prove that the “Universal Medicines,” if promptly and plenteously administered, are in all cases of disease, and particularly in small pox, almost universally efficacious, and not “deleterious” . . . Gratis.

London: Printed by G. Taylor, 1834. First edition. 8vo, removed pamphlet (no wrappers), 109, [2] pages. A sterling and entrepreneurial example of taking legal lemons and transforming them into marketing lemonade, the account of a trial of Joseph Webb, a self-styled “hygeist” who prescribed for an ailing Richard Richardson a....

Price: $350.00

(Morhouse, Abraham).

The Writings of a Pretended Prophet, (In Six Letters) Who Assumed The Title Of “A Faithful Servant Of Jesus Christ,” Officially Commissioned By Almighty God, to Demand and Receive Of Abraham Morhouse, Esq. of Johnstown (New-York) Two Thousand Pounds; With Terrible Denunciations In Case Of Refusal. To which is Added, His Recantation: or Four Letters, Written By The Prophet, After His Detection. Second Vermont Edition.

[Rutland, Vt. n. p.], 1816. Second edition. 8vo, unbound original self-wrappers (stitching perished but the title page—which appears to have been the only leaf loosened—neatly re-attached along the gutter), 12 pages, untrimmed. An uncommon account of a curious attempt at extortion: beginning on August 5, 1796, Abraham Morhouse began to...

Price: $225.00

[Mormons]. Missouri. Circuit Court (5th Circuit)

Document Showing the Testimony Given Before the Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High Treason and Other Crimes Against that State.

[Washington, D. C.]: Blair & Rives, Printers, [1841]. First edition. Unbound pamphlet, stitched, 9.75 x 6.25 inches, 47, [1] pages, untrimmed and partially unopened. “Sampson Avard, a witness produced, sworn, and examined on behalf of the State, deposeth and saith: That about four months since, a band, called the Daughters...

Price: $1,200.00

[Murder or Manslaughter?]. (Fisher W. Ames). William Johnston.

Argument of William Johnston in the Case of the State vs. Ames, Before the Criminal Court of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati: n. p., 1853. First edition. 8vo, removed pamphlet (no wrappers), 40 pages. A detailed look at the mores of gentlemanly conflict and the popular press of the Queen City of 1853: whenever Dr. Fisher Ames met railroad president James C. Hall on the street, vituperation, sword canes, and gunshots...

Price: $250.00

[Murder]. [Irish-American]. Michael Powers, defendant.

The Trial of Michael Powars [sic], for the Murder of Timothy Kennedy, before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Boston, April 11, 1820.

Boston: Published by Thomas G. Bangs, 1820. First edition. 12mo, untrimmed sheets, stab-stitched with early (but likely unoriginal) coarse thread, 7.88 x 4.94 inches, 35 pages. Early Irish immigrant violence in New England. Per McDade, “Even the great Daniel Webster could not save Powers, who was condemned for killing Kennedy...

Price: $650.00

[Murder]. [Johnstone, Robert].

Cruel Murder Committed by Robert Johnstone, on the Body of Miss Jane Henderson, Near Rosevale Village on the banks of the Humber, a few miles from Hull, on Saturday, 27th June, 1863.

[Paisley? Glasgow?]: Printed for the Booksellers, 1863. First edition. Removed chapbook, 6 x 3.75 inches, 8 pages. The son of a respectable farmer was carrying on an "illicit connection" with Jane Henderson, whom he was courting; when she became pregnant, Johnstone turned his attentions to a young woman who might...

Price: $125.00

[Newboys]. Gunckel, John E[lstner].

Boyville: A History of Fifteen Years' Work Among Newsboys.

Toledo: Published by the Toledo Newsboys' Association, (1905). First edition. 8vo, original gray cloth, black lettering, pictorial paper label, 291 pages. Frontis, 32 plates. An entertaining and anecdotal account of Gunckel's work among the newsboys and bootblacks of Toledo, with much on street life, as well as his efforts to...

Price: $40.00

[Prison Mendicant]. Al Hagan.

The Rambler is a History in a Unique Form, it Gives No Advice but Carries a Warning that Parents May Profit By . . . [wrapper title].

(Sacramento, Calif. Chas. N. Fleming, Co.), [ca. mid-1930s]. First edition. 16mo, original pictorial wrappers, [12] pages. "We often worked Confederate bills, And sometimes, phoney rings, So I became acquainted with, The Big House at Sing Sing." Ephemeral verses from a California serial criminal offender who bounced around various prisons from...

Price: $150.00

[Psychic Railroad Detective]. Smith, Evelyn Jackson.

Two undated typed letters, signed, to the Chief Special Agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad, claiming psychic insight to the identities of saboteurs responsible for the 1939 Nevada derailment disaster.

West Allis, Wisconsin, [1941]. Two typed letters (one signed by Smith), with a flimsy copy of a typed response to Smith from O’Connell’s office, and a copy of a registered mail cover from Smith to O’Donnell’s office in San Francisco, fastened along the upper edges into a cardstock portfolio with.....

Price: $125.00

(Quentin, George Augustus, defendant).

The Trial of Colonel Quentin, of the Tenth . . . by a General Court-Martial . . . Taken in Short-Hand by Mr. W[illiam] B[rodie] Gurney.

London: Published by Gale, Curtis, and Fenner, and Egerton, 1814. Stated second edition at the head of the title. 8vo, contemporary black morocco spine, marbled boards, vellum corners, gilt lettering. Folding table. Quentin had been charged with incapacity and misconduct in the field, charges stemming in part from his opposition...

Price: $100.00

Rogers, Ammi.

Memoirs of the Rev. Ammi Rogers, A.M. . . . Persecuted in the State of Connecticut, on Account of Religion and Politics, for Almost Twenty Years: and Finally, Falsely Accused and Imprisoned . . . Third Edition, with Additions, Omissions and Alterations.

Middlebury, Vt. Printed by J. W. Copeland, 1830. Stated third edition; the first appeared in 1824 (perhaps printed in Hebron, Connecticut), followed by an 1826 Schenectady edition. 12mo, contemporary calf spine, marbled boards, gilt rules, 268 pages. “This really is one of the most abominable conspiracies that ever was formed...

Price: $75.00

Sargent-Sowell, Inc.

SaSo Company. Municipal Police Signs Supplies Catalog . . . No. 104, January 1959 [wrapper title].

Grand Prairie, Texas: Sargent-Sowell, Inc., 1959. First edition. Original pictorial wrappers, 11.25 x 8.5 inches, 120 pages, [8] page order form. Illus. Amply illustrated throughout, everything a town needs to keep traffic running, from stoplights and road signs, to self-propelled line markers and asphalt pots, to service revolvers, police uniforms...

Price: $45.00

Stephenson, Rev. Nash.

Crime in Rural Populations: Its Causes and Remedies. A Sermon Preached in Hereford Cathedral, at the Assizes, on Tuesday, March 25th, 1872.

Manchester: National Union for the Suppression of Intemperance, [1872?]. First edition. 12mo, removed pamphlet, 11 pages. A presentation copy, inscribed in violet ink on the title page, "W. H. Cook, Esq. from the Author." A rather reasoned look at the economic and social effects of drink on agricultural laborers. Evidently...

Price: $50.00

[Trials]. Nelson Thayer, Isaac Thayer, and Israel Thayer, Jr., defendants.

The Life, Trial, Condemnation, and Dying Address of the Three Thayers! Who were Executed for the Murder of John Love, at Buffalo, N. Y. June 17th, 1825.

Buffalo: Printed for the Publisher, [1825]. First edition, this issue or edition with three coffins on the title page. Unbound pamphlet, stitched, 9 x 5.75 inches, 16 pages, untrimmed. Three woodcut coffins on the title page. A nice early Buffalo imprint: the three brothers were in debt to John Love...

Price: $600.00

Union Society for the Detection of Thieves.

Constitution and By-Laws of the Union Society for the Detection of Thieves.

Millerton, N. Y. Millerton Telegram Print, 1884. First edition. 12mo, original printed green wrappers, 11 pages. "All members of this Society shall hold themselves in readiness at the call of the managers for the pursuit of thieves." A nice Dutchess county imprint for this anti-crime society. OCLC notes copies at...

Price: $150.00

[Wines, E. C.].

International Congress on the Prevention and Repression of Crime, Including Penal and Reformatory Treatment: Preliminary Report of the Commissioner.

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872. First edition. 8vo, original black cloth, gilt lettering, 248 pages. Detailed report from Commissioner Wines on the prisons of Europe and Russia, latest theories of prison discipline from Alexander Maconochie, a review of prisons in the United States and a wealth of anecdotal detail on...

Price: $50.00

Results 1 - 23 (of 23)