first edition
1856 · Glasgow
by Zadragwagdagdoboribus [i.e. Rev. Dr. Smith?]
Glasgow: imprinted by Andrew Foulis, and sold by him at his shop in the Westergate, and all buiksellers, 1856. First edition (?), 12mo, pp. 110; 22 plates; original brown cloth, gilt-stamped on upper cover with an oval ornament with the motto "Let Glasgow Flourish"; front hinge cracking, else very good. This copy with an ownership signature of "Wm. Connell, Glasgow 1877." Not common: 5 in OCLC as of 3/16, only Stanford in the US who mistakenly attribute this work to Richard Grant White who did in fact write in 1871-72 The Chronicles of Gotham, a political satire of New York City. "The book may be viewed as the comic history of Gotham [almost certainly Glasgow] during several years, 1852 to 1856. The writers have avoided giving names, and the dramatis personae have to be learned from the narrative" (from the prefatory note to the 1856 edition ostensibly printed at Glasgow). This edition bears the subtitle "Or the facetious history of official proceedings." Henry Sotheran & Co. catalogue 516 (June 24, 1892) attributes the book to the Rev. Dr. Smith. Another edition, "printed and published for ye subscribers at Frog Terrace," with the fictitious date of 1690, bears the subtitle: Being a Fictitious Narrative of a Pilgrimage Through the Land of Gotham: with an Account of the Local Wars which Occurred There. With Illustrations."
(Inventory #: 48773)