Six Ventures in Villainy

Cassell & Company Ltd, London, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Very Good Condition/Very Good. Illustrator: Illustrated. List of illustrations. The text is illustrated with seven black-and-white illustrations. Back coloured cloth covered boards with gilt coloured titles to the backstrip. Illustrated dustwrapper with yellow, red and black coloured titles to the front panel and yellow and white coloured titles to the backstrip. "This collection of criminals has been selected from the robust days of George III, and comprises two ventures in kidnapping, two pursuits of lechery and two examples of the results of cupidity. The first group includes the case of an ex-member of Parliament who had his wife seized in the middle of Oxford Street and carried off to the Pennines; the second group provides an account of Lord Baltimore's alleged rape of a puritan millineress in his efforts to stock the harem he had built in his ancestral home at Epsom; the third tells of a carefully planned attempt at committing the perfect murder, a murder which, though it took place in 1805, might well supply the plot of a modern detective story. The author has researched into criminal records and 'contemporary' reports. He informs the reader of all the circumstances surrounding each case and sketches in all the principal protagonists before reconstructing the crimes, which in all too many cases, did not reap their true deserts." – from the front fold over panel blurb. Rubbing of the backstrip corners and of the book corners. Age toning and light foxing of the text block edges; with a very light age toning of the pages. A little offset tanning and handling marks to the end pages. Minor creasing of the backstrip corners and dustwrapper corners. Rubbing of the dustwrapper edges and panels with tanning of the rear panel. A couple of small splits to the top backstrip edge with some foxing to the fold over panels. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. [6], VII - XI, [1] 227, [1] pages,. Please refer to accompanying picture (s). Illustrator: Illustrated. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Law & Criminal Studies; Britain/UK; 19th century; History. Inventory No: 0129451. .