Only Complete Report of the Burch Divorce Case, Containing a History.

An 1860 Illinois Divorce Case that Dominated Headlines Throughout the United States [Trial]. Burch v. Burch. Only Complete Report of the Burch Divorce Case; Containing a History of the Case--The Preliminary Movements, The "Confession" of Mrs. Burch, Opening and Closing Speeches of Counsel, The Deposition of Parties Implicated, and All the Testimony in Full, With the Letters Offered in Evidence but Ruled Out by the Court. New York: Robert M. DeWitt, Publisher, 30 Frankfort Street, [c.1860]. 116, [5]-8 pp. Main text in double columns. Pictorial wrappers lacking. Page [5] has drop-head title The Beardsley Divorce, sub-titled History of the Case, which is followed by a single-column account of that case. Octavo (6" x 9-1/2"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound into recent quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt title to spine. Moderate toning to interior, light soiling to final page, early owner name (Dennison) to head of title page. A handsomely bound copy. $175. * Only edition, one of two issues. This sensational Illinois divorce case dominated headlines throughout the United States. It involved a prominent Chicago banker and his socialite wife, who denied his accusations of adultery and countered with charges that he married her for her fortune and had mistreated her. The jury agreed and ruled in her favor. Our copy is from the issue that includes a synopsis of the Beardsley Divorce, a case that involved adultery claims by both spouses. It is not included in the other issue, which does not have any additional material. The synopsis is apparently a promotion for DeWitt's report of that case, which is advertised on rear wrappers of copies in wrappers that we have seen. This issue not in Cohen or the Harvard Law Catalogue (1909), both of which record the issue with 116 pp.