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The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham

1840rif. 5648London: John Russell Smith 1840. Paperback. Very Good. Paperback. VERY SCARCE. James Orchard Halliwell Phillipps 1820-1889 was a Shakespearean scholar and antiquarian. He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Phillipps the bibliophile whose surname he took in 1872 despite their falling out over Halliwell's questionable ethics see below. He wrote several biographical works on Shakespeare including the Life of William Shakespeare. Halliwell was also a reputed manuscript thief and was banned from the library of the British Museum over suspicion about his possession of manuscripts that had been removed from Trinity College. He also was known for cutting up seventeenth-century books supposedly destroying over 800 books. Despite being a rogue he was a famous and notable Shakespearean and was instrumental in establishing the Shakespeare museum at Stratford-on-Avon. Halliwell was also well-known as a writer and collector of nursery rhymes. This slender humorous volume shows the influence of both his antiquarian and whimsical predilections. It purports to be a collection of vignettes about the men of Gotham a village in Nottinghamshire who are known for their stupidity. In the introduction Halliwell quotes the nursery rhyme "Three wise men of Gotham went to sea in a bowl; and if the bowl had been stronger my song would have been longer." There are 20 equally humorous tales in this work. Very good in blue black & white marbled paper wrappers pink-hued paper pastedown bearing title to front cover small stain near its top edge. 12mo. Light smudging to title-page and small bit of oil-like soiling to insides of both wrappers text unaffected; antiquated writing to top of title-page and one notation in margin. Interior is otherwise clean with very bright text; no foxing or browning. Tightly bound no loose pages. 24 pages. Literature. LIT/12163. John Russell Smith paperback