Anon

1839 · rif. 88235 — London UK: Henry Smith 44 Drury Lane 1839-1840. First Thus. 12mo. 14.5cm. Disbound retaining buff rear wrap stitched possibly at some point removed from a sammelband. 36pp. Clean and bright with a 1" closed tear to the lower spine edge of the title page; internally fresh lacking the frontispiece plate depicting "The Marquis and His Molls at The Union and Mother Emerson's". A very good clean copy indeed of a vanishingly scarce publication. Published under two identifiable imprints; one by "John Wilson" of Long Acre actually the rather shady Edward Duncombe and this volume by "Henry Smith" who was actually notorious smut peddler William Dugdale. Wilson's imprint is the one from the Madeline Kripke Collection currently residing at the Lilly Library in Bloomington Indiana and was long thought to be the only surviving copy. Another copy of the Wilson/Duncombe surfaced in trade in a catalog from the luminous and erudite Karen Thomson in the mid 20-teens and presumably disappeared into a private collection. This copy is the only traceable copy of the Henry Smith imprint with no visibility in OCLC at all. Precedence is undeniably difficult to establish; Dugdale was trading at 94 Drury Lane in 1837-1838 and was next door or more likely downstairs at 94 ½ Drury Lane in late 1839 after a brief few months over on Wych Street. He was verifiably printing and publishing work under the "Henry Smith" shingle in 1838 and was presumably still using it in 1839 but in 1840 he was over on Holywell St. off The Strand. Duncombe on the other hand can be placed at 78 Long Acre having taken a rental on a shop in what was most likely late 1839 it is recorded that in 1841 he hung the name "John Wilson" over the door apparently to the surprise of his landlord who testified in court that there was no such person at that address although there is scant evidence to suggest he wasn't publishing under Wilson prior to that. Purely for amusement purposes it should be noted that during the time this work was printed neither of these two piratical gentlemen was further than 4 minutes walk from each other. Ms. Kripke stuck to a date of 1840 for her "Wilson" copy and a date of 1840 can be applied to the Smith imprint via a periodical advertisement discovered by the publisher of "The Penny Bibliography"; Mr. John Adcock https://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/03/penny-bibliography.html. The fact that it bears the 94 Drury Lane address suggests a printing date of late 1839 although seeing as both Dugdale and Duncombe were perpetually in and out of court and jail for various crimes against decency throughout their entire careers any accuracy in the timeline can be ascribed to accident rather than intention. This copy rather sadly lacks the frontispiece which presumably would have looked much like the one Duncombe/Wilson used in his publication although his has a rather proprietorial publisher's imprint across it depicting a virile young rake cavorting through a number of the establishments mentioned within. A significant link in a long chain of bawdy guides rake's progressions and "Gentlemen's Kalendars" that owes much to Harris's Lists of half a century earlier; "Larks of London" occupies a clearly rather cramped space alongside "The Swell's Night Guide Through The Metropolis" by "F.L.G." and the "Man of Pleasure's Illustrated Pocket Book" and their ilk. Stopping short of active descriptions of sexual acts but making no bones about their availability and the addresses where they could or should be purchased it also expands into discussions of the relative quality of food drink and gaming facilities whether the company can be construed to be "Low" or of a more elevated nature and a certain strategic interest in how to get the very best from a night on the most irredeemably vice-ridden town in the Empire. Henry Smith, 44 Drury Lane unknown books