The genuine tryal of Dr. Nosmoth, a physician in Pekin; for the murder of the Mandarine Tonwin … Taken in short hand by the linguist of the English factory.

London, for Mary Cooper, 1746.

8vo, pp. [2], 5-29, [1 (blank)], the collation agreeing with ESTC; decorative headpieces and initials; small losses to inner margin of title, small water stain to title, some foxing and toning; withal a good copy, disbound.

£175

Approximately:
US $220€204

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The genuine tryal of Dr. Nosmoth, a physician in Pekin; for the murder of the Mandarine Tonwin … Taken in short hand by the linguist of the English factory.

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First edition, a satire, putting Dr. Nosmoth, aka Thomas Thompson, on trial for causing the death of ‘Mandarine Tonwin’, aka Thomas Winnington, the Paymaster of the Forces. The somewhat shady circumstances surrounding the death soon attracted the attentions of Society gossip, including being discussed by Horace Walpole, who narrates the history of the affair in a letter to Sir Horace Mann, on April 25, 1746.

The present tryal summarises the various surmises of popular opinion, whilst cunningly veiling the identities of the characters involved, and therefore obviating the possibility of a libel charge, through setting the action in a Chinese setting.

ESTC locates only three copies in America, at Harvard, NLM, and Yale.

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