Description
[003649] A Ticket-of-Leave Man. Convict Life; or, Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons. London: Wyman & Sons, 1879. First Edition. 8vo. Hardback. Good. [9], 2-282pp, [10] advertisements
Original decorative cloth, primrose endpapers. Rebacked, with original back strip laid down with slight loss to original back strip ends, covers lightly rubbed with some light discolouring and some crinkling, corners bumped. Some internal light spotting and staining to margins, small nicks and tears to bottom margin of R4 and S1, previous owners name to front pastedown and head of title
A ‘ticket-of-leave’ man was a convict released ‘on licence’. The anonymous author, “after living up to middle life in the character of a gentleman, and the reputation of an honourable man” (page 1), was sentenced to seven years, and while criticising aspects of the penal system, he is “actuated by no feelings of tenderness for that ruffian class, who, because they will drink and will not work, exist from childhood to old age, by committing outrages upon their fellow-creatures, and by filching from them the proceeds of honest labour and enterprise” (page 3)
