Rotunda Richard (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Two volumes of folklore series are bound in red buckram with leather spines. Cloth is rubbed at the edges, white corners soiled, leather spines worn at the edges with some scuffs. Paperbound journals included: Ballads and Songs of Indiana, Paul G. Brewster; Motif-Index of the Italian Novella in Prose by D.P. Rotunda; Albert Wesselski and Recent Folktale Theories by Emma Emily Kiefer; Proverbia Communia by Richard Jente. All orders packed with care, dust jackets protected by Brodart sleeve, independent bookseller since 2011.

A nice artefact, a number of Carlile's celebrated radical journal 'The Republican' (espousing not only republicanism but also atheism, abolitionism and birth control) as it appeared from the press. For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. For publishing various 'blasphemous' works by Thomas Paine, Carlile was fined £1500 and sentenced to three years in Dorchester Gaol. He refused to pay the fine, and his premises in Fleet Street were raided and his stock confiscated. While in prison he continued to write articles for The Republican which, published by his wife Jane, is said to have outsold pro-government newspapers such as The Times as a result of the publicity. [32]pp, 8vo, paginated 65-96, in original plain blue side-stitched wraps, uncut edges. Internally in fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper, in worn and chipped wraps. No full title. Drophead title, p.65: 'The Republican. | No. 3. Vol. V.] London, Friday, Jan. 18, 1822. [Price 6d.' At foot of p.65: 'Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 55, Fleet Street.' Slug, at foot of p.96, reads: 'Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 55, Fleet Street, where all Communications (post paid) are requested to be addressed. - Orders, with remittances, or references for payments, will be punctually attended to. Country Agents will find the most liberal Terms for prompt Payment.' In pencil at head of p.65, in contemporary hand: 'from Carlisle [sic] in Jail'. Pp.65-71: R. Carlile 'To the Republicans of the Island of Great Britain' (letter dated from 'Dorchester Gaol, Jan. 14, | Year 3, of the Spanish Revolution.'); pp.71-79: anon, 'Reflections Moral and Political' ('To be continued'); pp.79-83, J. Affleck, 'To Mr. R. Carlile, Dorchester Gaol' (letter dated 'Edinburgh, Dec. 12, 1821'); pp.83-85, R. Carlile, 'To Mr. James Affleck, Edinburgh' (letter dated 'Dorchester Gaol, Jan. 5th, 1822'); p.85: William Skinner, 'An Acrostic on Richard Carlile' (poem dated 'Edinburgh, Dec. 8'); pp.86-88: Amariah Batty, 'Renunciation of the Christian Mythology' (letter dated 'Castleton, Jan. 1, 1822'); pp.88-96: R. Carlile, 'To the Christian Judge Bailey' (letter dated 'Dorchester Gaol, Jan. 7, 1822'). The first item attacks Cobbett, and features the following representative passage: 'I detest and abhor the slave trade, and view the master as equally degraded with his slave. I am not one of those who think the white man a superior being to the negro. From all that I have read and witnessed, I infer that the inhabitants of Africa have mental capacities equal to the inhabitants of Asia, Europe, or America. There are shades of difference among the inhabitants of each quarter of the globe; but St. Domingo is a case in point that the negroes are a race capable of mental cultivation. Viewing man, as I do, to be nothing more than an animal, existing upon the same principle as every other animal does, and to perish by death as every other animal does, it cannot for a moment be imagined that I am an advocate for any kind of animal slavery. [.] If it ever becomes my lot to be thrown upon the hospitality of the inhabitants of the United States, I promise to attack their traffic in slaves, and two or three other failings in their character as Republicans, with all the power I may possess. I am astonished to think that there is now no writer in America to follow in the steps of Paine and Palmer, and to go on to beat down the horrid idolatry and fanaticism which exists there.' Accompanied by Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner's article 'Richard Carlile: A Stalwart of Liberty', on loose leaves extracted from a magazine, paginated 53-60.

For information on Carlile - described by E. P. Thompson as a 'Showman of Free Thought' - and his 'moral wife' the suffragist Eliza Sharples, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. At the time of writing Carlile was in prison for refusal to pay the church rates. The proofs Carlile asks to be allowed to receive in the first letter are presumably those of his journal 'The Gauntlet'. The phrenologist 'Mr. Hohn' referred to in the second of the letters - the 'Mr. Holme' of the accompanying slip - is the German-born physician and phrenologist John Diederick Holm (d.1856). Carlile's relationship with Teague appears to have been unorthodox: see the letter from Carlile to Teague, dated 'Compter, July 3, 1832', published in 'The Isis', 7 July 1832. ONE: 1p, 8vo. Aged and worn, with closed tears and chips to edges. Folded three times. Addressed at foot to 'Mr. Teague'. He begins: 'Sir | To-morrow being Christmas Day and no business day, putting our regular week's business in advance a day; will you be so good to let my son or servant come to me and wait for a proof sheet this evening | respectfully | Richd: Carlile'. TWO: On bifolium. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. Teague'. In poor condition, aged and worn, on brittle discoloured paper with chipping, closed tears, and slight discoloration at head of first page. Folded several times. The letter reads: 'Sir, | I was under engagement with Mr. Hohn the Phrenologist to let him have a cast of my head before I came to this place again. I am the more anxious about it now; because I want to see what improvement I can make in it by three years prison discipline (self imposed.) He wishes to come to day and if you have no objection and if it be required I will take him and his two assistants instead of other visitors. And if you have curiosity you are welcome to see the process. | Respectfully | R. Carlile'. Accompanying the second letter is a 5.5 x 15.5 cm slip of paper cut from a contemporaneous letter, reading: '[.] Please also to let Mr. Carlile Know that a little after One or perhaps about 2 in the afternoon Mr. Holme myself and an Italian Moulderer will go to the Compter to take his Cast and bring his Wigg [.]'.