The trial and life of Eugene Aram; several of his letters and poems; and his plan and specimens of an Anglo-Celtic lexicon; with copious notes and illustrations, and an engraved facsimile of the handwriting of this very ingenious but ill-fated scholar

Richmond: printed by and for M. Bell: sold also by Bell & Wood, 186, Fleet-Street; Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, London; Mosley, derby; and all other booksellers, 1842. First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 124, [2]; engraved facsimile frontispiece, engraved portrait and skull of Eguene Aram; original drab paper-covered boards, green diaper-patterned cloth shelfback, printed paper label on spine; label rubbed, spine with vertical crack, old ink stain at the top of the upper board; all else very good. With an early ownership signature of Effingham Wilson (1785-1868), the British radical publisher and bookseller, on the front free endpaper, and his bookplate (truncated) on the pastedown. Additionally, he has penned the following: "This volume was written by Michael Fryer formerly a schoolmaster in Reeth (no kidding;) afterwards librarian to John Hutton Esq. of Marske Hall - on the death of Mr. Hutton he went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he died." Also, with occasional marginal comments and underlinings, in pencil and ink, throughout the text, presumably by Wilson. In real life Eugene Aram (1704-1759) was an English philologist, made infamous for the murder of one Daniel Clark, a shoemaker in Knaresborough, and a close friend of Aram's, celebrated by Thomas Hood in his ballad "The Dream of Eugene Aram," and later by Bulwer-Lytton in his 1832 novel, Eugene Aram. A Tale. "When still a boy [Effingham Wilson] was removed to Knaresborough, where he resided with his physician uncle, Dr. Thomas Hutchinson, to be trained in the medical profession. Dr Hutchinson was 'a man of taste and literature' and a friend of William and Dorothy Wordsworth. He owned the skull of the murderer Eugene Aram, having taken the head from the gibbet where the murderer hung, and was assisted in the task by Wilson. (Inventory #: 66711)