Thomas Carlisle (Haroun Al-Raschid) - The Unprofessional Vagabond - Sampson, Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873, First Edition.

London, Sampson, Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873. First Edition. First Impression. Hardback. A good copy. An interesting piece of Victoriana. Carlisle was one of the early undercover reporters. The Unprofessional Vagabond was the moniker by which he became known. [Richardson, 2016, p77]. The book covers four 'assignments' The Crossing Sweeper (road cleaner), The Fern Merchant (ferns being the tamagotchi of the mid- to late- 19thC), The Tom-Tom Wallah (a minstrel banging a drum), The Toy Merchant. The present copy appears to be John Carlisle's copy (the author's brother as noted in the preface), that said, Locke notes the book as the author's copy. There's a signature to the pastedown and the endpaper, both suggest to me John. The pastedown signature is shorter and has written underneath it 'his book'. But there's more! Pasted to the rear of this copy, is part V. Presumably extracted from the Globe, within which these pieces were first published, is a section wherein Carlisle describes his experiences as some sort of costermonger (though, lacking a cart, I'm not sure that's an accurate definition). Condition's good only. These yellowback-style books weren't particularly well constructed so we have quite a bit of splitting and chipping to the spine. Corners worn, boards toned and soiled. Internally it's not too bad, a little soiling and the pasting to the rear of part V isn't too neat. Still, a rare book, particularly with the addition and signature. Cover art by John Carlisle [7885, Hyraxia Books].