Title: Biographia curiosa or memoirs of remarkable ...
Publisher: J Robins and Co, London.
Publication Date: 1822
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
iv, 262 printed pages, 48 engraved plates with original tissue protective guards. Late 19th century photographic bookplate of Joseph Rodgers on rear paste-down endpaper. Early 1960's engraved bookplate on front paste-down endpaper for The Guild of St John of Beverley . Two original black silk placemarkers (one detached). 15 x 24 cm. Full contemporary diced calf. Spine with raised bands and gilt decorative tooling (corners worn, hinges cracked and weak, spine rubbed with lower 4cm missing). The contents constitute a description portraying remarkable individuals and clearly reflects a time of political incorrectness. For example, the Willingham boy is an early tale of sexual precocity, when, eventually, his mother made a considerable sum of money by admitting the public to see him at one shilling each person. She continued to exhibit him at various public houses and private lodgings in different parts of the metropolis for about six months, but finding at length, the child in itself was not sufficiently attractive, she joined forces with a dwarf . As well, in the 1790 s, Daniel Lambert took over his father's position as keeper of Leicester prison & a very stationary lifestyle. In 1805, his prison closed down and, after a brief time as a recluse and ballooning to 700 pounds, he took to exhibiting himself for profit. He rubbed elbows with the affluent & influential of the time, meeting King George III, visiting officers of Napoleon, royalty, ambassadors and even an elderly Josef Boruwlaski - a stunning meeting as the biggest man of the age met the smallest. Provenance: Bookplate of Joseph Rodgers, landscape painter and author of The Scenery of Sherwood Forest originally published in 1908, saw beauty in the local scenery even in the midst of winter. Rodgers flourished as a painter in 1889 when he exhibited his painting The Day is Far Spent at the Royal Academy. Seller Inventory # 5170