Description

[005056] Handy, W.[illiam] Verses Composed on the Murder of G. Kalabergo. Digbeth, Birmingham: William Pratt. First Edition. Folio. Unbound. Broadside. Good. Printed broadside, approximately 255mm x 380mm in size, n.d. but c.1852?

Very lightly browned, minor creasing from old folds, a couple of spots of soiling, small chip to right hand border, but generally fairly clean

Presented within a typographic frame

Provincial poetry, or ballad, by William Handy of Ilmington, relating to the murder of an Italian jeweller and clockmaker Giovanni Kalabergo by his nephew Gullielmo, who was executed for the offence on the 22nd of March 1852, and was apparently the last person publicly hanged in Oxfordshire

For the printer William Pratt, see the BBTI

According to Norman’s study of his ancestor’s work, this is the third extant broadside of Handy’s, who went to produce several others, all relating to local events, or events in his own life (see Kevin J. Norman, William ‘Poet’ Handy of Ilmington, 2020)

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