(SMITH, John Frederick) Stanfield Hall. [Vols I-III.] [New York: Dick & Fitzgerald.] [1883]
Plates after John Gilbert; lacking titlepages with one supplied in modern type, pp.1-2 & 45-46 torn and laminated, pp. 13-14 margins repaired. Rebound in half dark blue morocco; spine faded.
¶Text in two columns. First serialized in the London Journal 1849-50, Stanfield Hall consists of three separate historical episodes, mediaeval to Cromwellian, influenced by Scott. The work is extensively discussed by Louis James who points out its strange mixture of historical accuracy and prophetic science-fiction-style anachronism involving plastic surgery, a gas bomb and the cinema. Its great popularity produced several later editions but we have been unable to trace this one on Worldcat or Copac, the closest reference being a Garrett edition c.1888. Stanfield Hall was the scene of a celebrated murder by James Rush in 1848 and this volume contains a photocopy and cuttings relating to this crime.