Glasgow Poisoning Case [Bound After Three Other Unrelated Titles]

1857. 4 titles in 1 book.. 4 titles in 1 book. Account of a Famous Glasgow Murder Trial Bound with Three Other Diverting Books [Trial]. Smith, Madeleine [1835-1928], Defendant. Glasgow Poisoning Case. Unabridged Report of the Evidence in this Extraordinary Trial, With All the Passionate Love Letters Written by the Prisoner to the Deceased, And Numerous Illustrations, Including Portrait of Madeleine Smith. London: George Vickers, Angel Court, Strand, 1857. 77 pp. 7 woodcut plates, 3 folding. Only edition. [Bound After] Ward, Artemus (Pseud. of Charles Farrar Browne) [1834-1867]. Artemus Ward, His Book: Being the Confessions & Experiences of a Showman. London: S.O. Beeton, 248, Strand, W.C., 1865. viii, 168 pp. Half-title lacking. Later edition; first published in 1862. [And] Barnum, P.T. [1810-1891]. The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself. Author's Edition. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 47 Ludgate Hill, 1855. viii, 372 pp. Woodcut frontispiece. Woodcut text illustrations. First London edition, published the same year as the first edition, New York, 1855. [And] Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Pansie: A Fragment. The Last Literary Effort of Nathaniel Hawthorne. London: John Camden Hotten, Piccadilly [1864]. 48 pp. Only edition. Octavo (6-1/4" x 4"; 15.9 x 10.2 cm). Contemporary three-quarter calf over marbled boards. Some bubbling and rubbing to boards, heavier rubbing to extremities with wear to fore-edges of boards, front joints just starting at ends, corners bumped and moderately worn, hinges cracked, some bubbling to pastedowns, bookplate residue to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, wear and clean tears to folding frontispiece of Glasgow Poisoning Case, one tear mended with cellotape. A very good volume overall. $450. * These unrelated small-format titles may have been assembled to provide diversion to a traveler. It includes a book of humorous sketches by Ward, Barnum's entertaining and inspiring autobiography, the first part of Hawthorne's novel The Dolliver Romance, and an account of a famous murder trial. In 1855, Smith, a Glasgow socialite, began a passionate affair with Pierre Emile L'Angelier. When her parents found a more suitable match, she attempted to break the relationship, but he threatened to use their love letters to expose her if she did not marry him. He died from arsenic poisoning.