Passages in The Life of a Radical

Hardback. Fair. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London, 1844, first public edition; small 8vo, two volumes, pp [1-3], 4-288 and [1-3], 4-248; contemporary blue-green cloth gilt, non-matching, somewhat worn, internally generally firm and tight but with the final free sheet of vol I missing and with the tp of vol II supplied as a modern photocopy, pages lightly browned throughout, more particularly on the edges. The sheets have clearly been bound in cloth on different occasions although the binding each volume appears to be more or less contemporary with publication. The dimensions of the pages, allowing for inevitable minor variation in trimming, are the same as are the dimensions of the text; however, vol II is perhaps 1-2mm shorter in height than is vol I and the positioning of the lettering on the spine differs. The binding to vol I is a chalky blue-green with blind embossed arabesque decoration at the edges and corners and fairly modern cream laid end papers; that of vol II is a dull, dark green with horizontal laid lines and end papers of typical chalky yellow. The facsimile title page is identical to that of vol I except that the word "second", written ink, replaces the word "first". There is the same ownership name, P.H. Benson, noted in ink in each volume, although apparently written on different occasions. Bamford, a Salford and Machester weaver, was an English radical and poet active in pressing for parliamentary and government reform and for matters such as the repeal of the Corn Laws. He was twice imprisoned for treason, on the second occasion at the Peterloo Massacre he was imprisoned for inciting a riot, although there was ample evidence to the contrary. His poems were written in both standard English and in dialect and many showed sympathy with the lives and privations of the working classes. His "Life of a Radical", published initially in parts and apparently also privately is an authoritative account of the condition of the lives or ordinary people of the time. His funeral in 1872 was attended by thousands. It's said that he became a voice for radical reform to be achieved without resort to physical force.