Beschreibung:

James Curtis: 'An authentic and faithful history of the mysterious murder of Maria Marten, with a full development of all the extraordinary circumstances which led to the discovery of her body in the Red barn; to which is added the trial of William Corder...with...many interestng particulars relative to the village of Polstead and its vicinity; the prison correspondence of Corder, and fifty-three letters, in answer to his advertisement for a wife', London, Thomas Kelly 1828, 472pp, engraved frontis + numerous engraved illustrations on 10 full page plates, including Polstead Church, The Red Barn, Marten's Cottage, Polstead Village, portraits of Thomas Marten, Ann Marten, William Corder, Thomas Henry & Maria Marten, front view of Bury Gaol etc, scarce with engraved illustrations, old half calf worn. The Red Barn Murder was a notorious 1827 murder committed in Polstead, Suffolk. A young woman, Maria Marten, was shot dead by her lover William Corder. The two had arranged to meet at the Red Barn, a local landmark, before eloping to Ipswich. Corder was found guilty of murder in a well-publicised trial, and in 1828 hanged at Bury St Edmunds in an execution witnessed by a huge crowd. The story provoked numerous newspaper articles, songs and plays, with Polstead becoming a tourist attraction and the barn stripped by souvenir hunters; together with The Rev. Richard Cobbold [of Wortham, Suffolk]: 'The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl', London, Henry Colburn, 1846, 3rd edition, engraved frontis + 7 engraved plates as called for, [2]pp ads at end, printed dedication to the Marchioness Cornwallis of Culford Hall, Suffolk, rebound calf. Margaret Catchpole (1762-1819) spent her early life on farms in Suffolk England and was sentenced to death in May 1797 for horse-stealing. This sentence was commuted to transportation for seven years and then for life following her escape and recapture. Arriving in Sydney in December 1801, she worked as a cook and helper for a number of well-known families. After her pardon in January 1814 she spent the remainder of her life in Richmond, Sydney where she kept a small store and worked as a midwife and nurse (2)