A compleat history of the lives and robberies of the most notorious highway-men, foot-pads, shop-lifts, and cheats, of both sexes : in and about London and Westminster, and all parts of Great Britain, for above an hundred years past, continu'd to the present time / wherein their most secret and barbarous murders, unparalell'd robberies, notorious thefts, and unheard of cheats, are set in a true light, and expos'd to publick view, for the common benefit of mankind ; to which is prefix'd The thieves new canting-dictionary, explaining the most mysterious words, new terms, significant phrases, and proper idioms, used at this present time by our modern thieves by Capt. Alex. Smith.
| Author/creator | Smith, Alexander |
| Format | Microform |
| Edition | The fifth ed. / (adorn'd with cuts) with the addition of near two hundred robberies lately committed .... |
| Publication Info | London : Printed for Sam. Briscoe, and sold by A. Dodd, 1719-20. |
| Description | 3 volumes : plates. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Library of English literature ; LEL 22252-53 Library of English literature ; LEL 22252-53. UNAUTHORIZED |
| General note | Errors in pagination: v. 1, page numbers 3-48 repeat; v. 2, pages 202 and 353 misnumbered 102 and 373 respectively; v. 3, pages 25**-**48 inserted between pages 24 and 25, page numbers 38 and 39 reversed, page numbers 145-152 and 358 repeat. |
| General note | Table of contents precedes each vol. |
| General note | Vol. 3 has title: The third volume of the compleat history of the lives, robberies, piracies, and murders committed by the most notorious rogues, &c. from the time of Edward the Confessor. With the famous sermon preach'd by Bernard Sympson a monk, to a gang of highway-men in a wood near Maidenhead-thicket. Printed from the original M.S. out of the Bodleian library in Oxford. Together with the continuation of the wicked lives of highway-men, murderers, foot-pads, house-breakers, shoplifts, water-pads, kid-lays, hook-pole-lays, molly-lays, bumming-lays, and the surprising adventures of several famous pirates, down to the present time. With The thieves grammar whereby the art of thieving, is fully detected. A key to the art of thieving; newly discovered, whereby several secret mysteries are unlocked for the good of the publick. Never before printed. |
| General note | "The thieves new canting dictionary of the words, terms, proverbs, and phrases, used in the modern language of the thieves, &c. Useful for all sorts of people, (especially travellers) to secure their money, and preserve their lives. Much augmented, by Capt. Alexander Smith. London: Printed for Sam. Briscoe, 1719": [34] p. at end of v. 2. |
| General note | "The thieves grammar. By Capt. Alexander Smith. London: Printed by S. Collins, for Sam. Briscoe,...": v. 3, p. [334]-362. |
| Reproduction note | Joyner- Microfiche. Chicago, Ill. : Library Resources, inc., 1976. 2 microfiches : positive ; 8 x 13 cm. (Library of English literature ; LEL 22252-53) |