The Trial and Execution of John Any Bell Aged 14 For the Murder..

1831. The Execution of a Teenage Murderer [Broadside]. [Execution]. Bell, John Any Bird [d.1831]. The Trial and Execution of John Any Bell Aged 14 For the Murder of Richard Taylor at Bridge-Wood, Kent, On the 4th of March, 1831. [London]: Printed and Sold by J. Quick, [1831]. 14-3/4" x 10" broadside. Text in two columns separated by woodcut border under headline and two woodcut vignettes, verses attributed to Bell at foot of second column. Moderate toning, light soiling and creasing, no loss to legibility, small tears to edges and hole to left margin not affecting text, two small circular stickers to top-edge. $3,000. * The fourteen-year-old Bell confessed to killing Richard Faulker Taylor, thirteen, presumably for the small sum of money Taylor was carrying home. Any Bird Bell's name is sometimes given as James, probably a result of confusion with his younger brother, James Bell. The younger brother, apparently a witness to the crime, testified against him at trial, where he was convicted of murder. Bell was the youngest person executed in England in the nineteenth century. John Vandenburg Quick [1792-1858] was a successful London printer who specialized in broadsides, pamphlets, prints, paper toys and puzzles. This is a rare broadside. OCLC and Library Hub locate 1 copy (Harvard). Not at the British Library.