Crimes of Love and Passion, No 2, The Crimes of Belle Gunness..

1928. [London]: Federation Press, Ltd., 1928.. [London]: Federation Press, Ltd., 1928. "Crimes of Love and Passion" Brame, Geoffrey. Renin, Paul, Editor. [du Tilh, Arnaud (d.1560)]. [Gunness, Belle (1859-1908?)]. Crimes of Love and Passion, No. 2: The Crimes of Belle Gunness, Murderess, Adultress, And Baby Farmer. A Wife as Prey: The True Story of the Notorious Arnauld de Tily Who Impersonated His Soldier Friend, Deceiving Even His Beautiful Wife [Cover Title]. [London]: Federation Press, Ltd., Gramol House, E.C. 4., c.1928. 31 pp. Stapled pamphlet in color printed wrappers. Light soiling, negligible rubbing to extremities, light browning to interior. A well-preserved copy of a rare title. $950. * This is a title in the true crime series Crimes of Love and Passion. Originally issued around 1928 (the issues are not dated) and re-issued in the 1950s, this series had four volumes. Issue No. 2 has two parts: "Arnauld de Tily, Impersonator-Deceiver-Thief. An Amazing True Story" by Geoffrey Brame and "Belle Gunness, 'The Female Bluebeard'" by Henry K. Vernon. In 1556, a man claiming to be the long-absent French peasant Martin Guerre resurfaced. He successfully convinced Guerre's wife and son of his identity, but when he tried to claim the inheritance left by Guerre's deceased father, other family members grew suspicious. Finally, the real Martin Guerre returned during legal proceedings against the imposter, whose identity was revealed as Arnaud du Tilh. He was hanged in 1560. Gunness was a prolific Norwegian American serial killer who operated in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. She is credited with at least fourteen and as many as forty murders; most of her victims were men lured to her Indiana home by personal advertisements she placed. She is alleged to have killed two of her husbands and three infant children in order to collect insurance money. Her crimes were discovered in 1908 when her farmhouse burned to the ground, leaving the remains of a headless woman and three children inside and at least eleven sets of partial remains elsewhere on the property. The woman was presumed to be Gunness, but the identity of the body was never confirmed. OCLC locates 2 copies, both re-issues (Kent State University, University of Arizona).