Only in Rhode Island
Report of the case John Dorrance against Arthur Fenner tried at the December term of the Court of Common Pleas, in the county of Providence, A.D. 1801. To which are added, the proceedings in the case Arthur Fenner vs. John Dorrance. Carefully compiled from notes correctly taken by several gentlemen who were present during the whole course of the trial
Providence: printed by Bennett Wheler, 1802. First edition, 8vo, pp. iv, 116; 20th-century three-quarter maroon goat, spine in 3 compartments, unadorned; lightly rubbed, very good. This copy with the ownership signature and copious annotations of Benjamin Crocker Clough (1889-1975), professor of English and classics at Brown University (on p. 1, p. 50, the verso of the final leaf, and 4 rear flyleaves) largely related to corpses, anatomy, and dissection, as well as notes on some of the characters in this whacky case (including the printer, Bennett Wheeler, a Nova Scotian) which involved the sale of the corpse of a suicide victim in exchange for a beaver-skin hat, and the subsequent dissection of the cadaver. Clough in 1947 published The American Imagination at Work, an anthology of folk tales; and Tall Tales and Folk Tales. American Imprints 2156; Cohen 11968; Sabin 20652. Offered together with: [from the typed label on the upper cover:] Dorrance vs. Fenner. Sidney S. Rider's Study of the Case in its Unexpurgated Form. Prov. Journal, Dec. 21, 1872. Purchased for $1 from J. H. L. 1936. And with the added note in manuscript: "With some MS additions culled from various sources, by B. C. Clough." Small 8vo, 28 leaves onto which have been pasted a series of Rider's articles in the Providence Journal, with many manuscript and typed annotations by Clough in the margins, on the flyleaves and several individual pages. Also, with 2 legal-size sheets with notes in ink about the case on both sides of the sheets. Contemporary red cloth, paper label on upper cover; very good. Item #55361
Price: $750.00
