The Newgate
Calendar
Bibliographical
Note
History
and Early editions
There is no single book
called The Newgate Calendar. The first readily available accounts of
crimes and criminals in
The first "Newgate
Calendars" were collections of these accounts, and as the eighteenth
century progressed, more and more crimes were added; the various collections
plagiarized their predecessors shamelessly. Some of them added prosy morals to
the stories. It was because of these that they were considered uplifting
reading and few literate homes would have been without one; often the only book
apart from a bible.
The name "Newgate
Calendar" can refer to all or any of the following:
- The Tyburn
Calendar, or Malefactors Bloody Register, published by G. Swindell (c. 1705)
- A Compleat
History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen,
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, continued to the present time by Captain Alexander Smith (1719)
- The Chronicle of Tyburn, or Villainy Display'd
in all its Branches (1720)
- A General and True History of
the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers,
Street-Robbers etc. To which is added a genuine Account of the Voyages and
Plunders of the Most Noted Pirates, Interspersed with several remarkable Tryals of the most Notorious Malefactors, at the Sessions-House
in the Old Bailey, London by Captain Charles
- Lives of the nost remarkable criminals condemned and executed for
Murder, Highway Robberies, Housebreaking, Street Robberies and other
Offences by
- The Tyburn
Chronicle (1768)
- The Newgate Calendar or or
MALEFACTORS' BLOODY REGISTER containing: Genuine and Circumstantial
Narrative of the lives and transactions, various exploits and Dying
Speeches of the Most Notorious Criminals of both sexes who suffered Death
Punishment in Gt. Britain and Ireland for High Treason Petty Treason
Murder Piracy Felony Thieving Highway Robberies Forgery Rapes Bigamy
Burglaries Riots and various other horrid crimes and misdemeanours on a
plan entirely new, wherein will be fully displayed the regular progress
from virtue to vice interspersed with striking reflexions on the conduct
of those unhappy wretches who have fallen a sacrifice to the laws of their
country. (3
vols., 1774-1778) - the first to bear this title.
- THE MALEFACTOR'S REGISTER; OR, New
NEWGATE and TYBURN CALENDAR. CONTAINING THE AUTHENTIC LIVES, TRIALS,
ACCOUNTS OF EXECUTIONS, DYING SPEECHES, AND OTHER CURIOUS PARTICULARS,
Relating to ALL the most notorious VIOLATERS OF THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY;
WHO HAVE Suffered DEATH, and other exemplary PUNISHMENTS, in England,
Scotland, and Ireland, from the commencement of the Year 1700, to the
MIDSUMMER SESSIONS of next Year. Together with NUMEROUS TRIALS in
EXTRAORDINARY CASES, where the Parties have been ACQUITTED. This Work also
comprehends all the most material Passages in the SESSIONS-PAPERS for a
long Series of Years, and complete NARRATIVES of all the Capital TRIALS
for BIGAMY, HIGH-TREASON, RIOTS, BURGLARY, HORSE-STEALING, STREET-ROBBERY,
FELONY, MURDER, UNNATURAL CRIMES, FORGERY, PETIT-TREASON, FOOTPAD-ROBBERY,
PIRACY, HIGHWAY-ROBBERY, RAPES, And various other OFFENCES, and
MISDEMEANORS. To which is added, A correct List of all the Capital
Convictions at the Old Bailey, &c. &c. &c. since the
Commencement of the present Century; which will be of the highest Use to
refer to on many Occasions. The Whole tending, by a general Display of the
Progress and Consequence of Vice, to impress on the Mind proper Ideas of
the Happiness resulting from a Life of strict Honor
and Integrity: and to convince Individuals of the superior Excellence of
those Laws framed for the Protection of our Lives and Properties. Offered
not only as an Object of Curiosity and Entertainment, but as a Work of
real and substantial Use. Dedicated to Sir JOHN FIELDING, Knight. (1780)
- The Criminal Recorder , or Biographical Sketches
of Notorious Public Characters by "A.F.", A Student of the
Temple. (1804)
- The New and Complete Newgate
Calendar or Malefactor's Universal Register, Comprising INTERESTING
MEMOIRS of the MOST NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS who have been convicted of
outrages on the LAWS OF ENGLAND, with SPEECHES, CONFESSIONS, and LAST
EXCLAMATIONS of SUFFERERS by William Jackson (1795, reprinted 1818)
- The Newgate Calendar Improved;
Being interesting memoirs of notorious characters who have been convicted
of Offence against the laws of England, During the seventeenth century;
and continued to the present time, chronologically arranged; comprising
Traitors, Murderers, Incendiaries, Ravishers, Pirates, Mutineers, Coiners,
Highwaymen, Footpads, Housebreakers, Rioters, Extortioners,
Sharpers, Forgers, Pickpockets, Fraudulent Bankrupts, Money droppers,
Impostors, and Thieves of every Description. And Containing a number of
interesting cases never before published: with Occasional remarks on
Crimes and Punishments, Original Anecdotes, Moral reflections and
Observations on particular Cases; Explanations of the Criminal Laws, the
Speeches, Confessions and Last Exclamations of Sufferers. To which is
added a Correct Account of the Various Modes of Punishment of criminals in
Different Parts of the World by George Theodore Wilkinson, esq. (1822)
- Celebrated Trials, and
remarkable cases of Criminal Jurisprudence from the earliest Records to
the Year 1825 by George Borrow (1825)
- The Newgate Calendar by Andrew Knapp and William
Baldwin (1826)
- The Annals of Crime and New
Newgate Calendar Published by Berger, Holywell St.; no author given (1834)
- The Chronicles of Crime or the
New Newgate Calendar, being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious
characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest
period to 1841 by Camden Pelham. (1841, reprinted 1886)
Taken together, these
contain considerably over one thousand cases. Every editor of the many
subsequent collections and abridgements has chosen those he regarded as most
interesting or important, discarding the rest, so there is no complete edition.
This Ex-Classics edition is based chiefly on the
20th
and 21st Century editions of the Newgate Calendar
- Trials from The Newgate
Calendar.
Edited by Charles Tibbits.
- The Complete Newgate Calendar. Edited by J.L. Rayner and G.T
Crook. London, Navarre Society, 5 vols., 1926. Illustrated. Despite its
name, it is not at all complete; about half the cases have been omitted,
and many of the ones included have been abridged, some very heavily.
However it contains 512 cases collated from various editions, an index and
appendices.
- The Newgate Calendar,
Comprising INTERESTING MEMOIRS of the MOST NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS who have
been convicted of outrages on the LAWS OF ENGLAND, with SPEECHES,
CONFESSIONS, and LAST EXCLAMATIONS of SUFFERERS. Edited by Edwin Valentine
Mitchell.
- The Newgate Calendar, or
Malefactors' Bloody Register. Edited by B. Laurie.
- The Newgate Calendar and
- The New Newgate Calendar. London, Folio Society, 1951
& 1960 respectively; also republished as a two-volume set in 1992.
Edited by Sir Norman Birkett / Lord Birkett (he evidently got promoted in
between the two editions). Illustrated. The first contains 28 cases taken
from The Malefactors Register of 1780. The second has 23 cases from
- The Newgate Calendar, or
Malefactor's Bloody Register.
- The Newgate Calendar,
- Tales from the Newgate Calendar by Rayner Heppenstal.
Also interesting is a work by the same author -- - Reflections on the Newgate
Calendar by
Rayner Heppenstal.
- The Newgate Calendar. London, Cardinal/Sphere
books, 1991. Introduction by Christopher Hibbert.
Illustrated, but the reproductions are very poor quality. Contains 42
cases from Wilkinson's 1822 edition. The worst 20th Century edition.
- The Newgate Calendar.
Electronic Editions
- The Newgate
Calendar at
the Ex-classics web site. ../newgate/ngintro.htm.
This edition, readable online or can be downloaded in various formats.
- Newgate Calendar. Archive CD Books Project,
2004. A Data CD containing a facsimile in Adobe Acrobat format of the
first two volumes only (of five) of a reprint of Knapp and
- Johnson's Lives of Highwayman
and Pirates. Archive CD Books Project, 2010. A Data CD containing a facsimile
in Adobe Acrobat format of an 1839 abridged version of Johnson's 1734
edition.
- Google Books http://books.google.com and
The Internet Archive http://archive.org/
have various versions and odd volumes as page scans, as follows:
|
URL |
Edition |
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Camden Pelham Vol 1 (T Tegg, 1841) |
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Camden Pelham Vol 2 (T.Tegg, 1851) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 1 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 2 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 3 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 4 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 5 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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G T Wilkinson Vol 6 (Thomas Kelly, n.d.) |
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Knapp and Baldwin Vol 1 (Robins, 1824) |
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Knapp and Baldwin Vol 2 (Robins, 1825) |
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Knapp and Baldwin Vol 3 (J J Cundee, n.d.) |
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Knapp and Baldwin Vol 4 (Robins, 1828) |
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Knapp and Baldwin Vol 5 (Robins, n.d.) |
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The Criminal recorder Vol 1 (James Cundee, 1804) |
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The Criminal recorder Vol 2 (James Cundee, 1804) |
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The Criminal recorder Vol 3 (James Cundee, 1804) |
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The Criminal recorder Vol 4 (James Cundee, 1812) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 1 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 2 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 3 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 4 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 5 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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Borrow - Celebrated Trials Vol 6 (Knight & Lacy, 1825) |
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The Annals of Crime and New Newgate Calendar (issues 1-53 of a partwork;) Berger, 1833-1834 |
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William Jackson Vol 1 (Alex Hogg, 1794) |
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William Jackson Vol 2 (Alex Hogg, 1794) |
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William Jackson Vol 4 (Alex Hogg, 1794) |
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William Jackson Vol 5 (Alex Hogg, 1794) |
