Murdered Bride or the Victim of Treachery; by ANONYMOUS - 1837

First Edition (?) of this Rare Gothic Novel. Illustrated With Engraved Plates [ANONYMOUS]. The Murdered Bride or the Victim of Treachery; A Tale of Horror: (Founded on Recent Facts.) London: William Emans, 1837. First edition (?). Small quarto (8 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches; 213 x 136 mm). [1]-720 pp. Complete with, engraved frontispiece, additional engraved title-page and six other engraved plates. We believe this to be the first edition of this book. OCLC shows one copy of an edition which states the date [1820] which is at University of Cambridge and it is incomplete. After inspecting an image of the Cambridge copy's title-page, we find it possible that their title-page was trimmed, eliminating the date which falls at the very bottom of the lower margin. When compared to our present copy, all other parts of the title-page are identical, however the Cambridge copy is certainly trimmed closer at the top margin as well. They quote Andrew Block's 1961 bibliography of 'The English novel' (p. 169), recording it from a single bookseller's listing only, which lists an undated edition which is given a conjectural date of [1820]. Because this Cambridge copy is the only one we can find, we can assume that Block is talking about this copy as well. Bookseller Robert Temple also formerly listed a copy of the [1820] edition, which also was incomplete so could potentially also be this same Cambridge copy. OCLC shows only Harvard and The British Library with a copy of this 1837. We can find no other copies of this title at auction in the past 50 years. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Original parts bound together, with stabmarks. Bound by G.J. Sutton (?) with the small binder label on front endpaper. Spine heavily tooled in gilt in compartments. Green morocco spine label, lettered in gilt. Spine with the name M.N. Bourne in gilt at the foot. All edges marbled. Green endpapers. Some toning to plates and a bit of foxing throughout. Boards a bit rubbed. Previous owner Bruce Ismay's armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Ismay was the managing director and survivor of the Titanic. Overall a very good copy of this extremely rare title. The Murdered Bride or the Victim of Treachery, A Tale of Terror (founded on recent Facts) is a gothic novel presumably based on recent events of the time, but a work of fiction nonetheless. In this story which differs from so many gothic novels of its time, the heroine and her young son die in the final lines of the story. HBS 67342. $2,500