MARTIN, Edward Winslow [Pseud. MCCABE, Jr, James Dabney]

The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes

Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, [1868]. Octavo (22.5cm). Purple cloth, stamped in gilt on front and spine; yellow endpapers; [ii], 15-552, [2]pp; 2 pages of publisher's ads at rear; wood-engraved title page and 34 wood engravings, including 5 folding. With pencil inscription to front free endpaper and ownership stamp to title page of Dewitt C. Trelin. A sound copy, spine much sunned, cloth rubbed, frayed and head and tail, occasional fingersoil, but largely sturdy: around Very Good.

A New York visitor's guide to crime, vice, and scandal at all levels of society, including five chapters documenting several forms of prostitution. McCabe argues that avoiding sites of vice was the only path to safety: "No matter how clever a man may be in his own town or city, he is a child in the hands of the sharpers and villains of this community" (15-16). The book's sensational illustrations could give readers a safer thrill.

Price: $100.00

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