Jackson, William.

The New and Complete Newgate Calendar; or Malefactor's Universal Register. Containing, New and Authentic Accounts of All the Lives, Adventures, Exploits, and Last Dying Speeches, Confessions. Six Volumes.

      London: Alex, Hogg & Co., ca -1807. 1795 - .Title continues.'.(As well as Letters to their Relatives never before published) of the most Notorious Criminals and Violators of the Laws of their Country [etc]. ' A New Edition with Great Additions.The six volumes rebound in half blue morocco onto marbled boards. Elizabeth Godfrey listed as the last offender in supplement to vol VI, (1807). In total 928 cases and 70 full page copper plates. Vol I, 416pp, frontis and 6 plates, foxing to prelims and repair to final page with no loss of text, marginal foxing. Vol II, 400pp, frontis and 7 plates, minor foxing and browning of plates, some margin loss to frontis. Vol III, 400pp, frontis and 5 plates (frontis, 7pp and additional plate facsimile from British Library edition). Original plates are browned with repair and sm tear to single plate. Vol IV, 406pp, frontis and 12 plates, minor foxing and margin loss to plates. Vol V, 356pp, frontis and 12 plates, light foxing. Vol VI, 895pp, frontis and 21 plates, 22pp index and 28pp supplement for additional 2 trials (1807) with fldng copper plate. Marginal loss to plates and sm tear to single page with minor loss of text. The only copy of this title at British Museum completes vol VI with 416pp. There is no single book called 'The Newgate Calendar'. The first readily available accounts of crimes and criminals in England were broadsheets and chapbooks. Both were very cheap-a penny or so-and were sold at fairs, by itinerant pedlars and particularly at executions. The first 'Newgate Calendars' were collections of these accounts, and as the eighteenth century progressed, more and more crimes were added; the various collections plagiarized their predecessors shamelessly. These publications were considered morally uplifting reading and few literate homes would have been without one; often the only book apart from the bible.The first Newgate Calendar series was first published in 5 vols by R. Sanders in 1760 and narrated notorious crimes from 1700 till then. This William Jackson publication is scarce. [Attributes: Hard Cover]