London City. [Pamphlet attacking 'a Piratical Publisher'; with illustration.]

12mo: 12 pages. Dimensions of leaf roughly 12 x 10 cm. Stitched and unbound. Good, with outer pages a little grubby and 3.5 cm closed tear up spine of outer leaves. A scarce and unusual piece of ephemera: no copy at the British Library and none on COPAC. Title advertises the pamphlet at 'ONE FARTHING.' A full page advertisement on reverse of title, for W. J. Loftie's 'London City' (published by the Leadenhall Press in 1891) is significant. The text explains that 'this tome' has been rushed out to secure the title 'London City' 'by prior registration' from 'a Piratical Publisher [capital P's please]' who intended forestalling Loftie's 'book in hand - he has tried before and failed - entitled LONDON CITY, to extort blood money'. His intention was to publish a work of the same title, 'with a few pages put together by a Grub Street scribbler, and registering the title, which he audaciously proposes selling for much gold to its rightful owners'. 'It may be asked, why not be content with registering the title only? | Because, gentle and curious reader, a righteously protective law elects that a complete edition - defined by a legal luminary as five hundred copies - of a book must be ready for sale (that is published in the fullest sense of the word) before registration is valid.' The pamphlet ends with a curse on the 'sinful publisher': 'may his shirts be buttonless; may he frizzle on hot toast all his days: and at last may he so unfeignedly repent his nasty dirty evil doings as just to escape by the skin of his teeth the awful fate reserved for human scum | AMEN.' Full-page illustration, on reverse of second leaf, captioned 'THE UNREPENTANT PUBLISHER!' Shows the publisher, in front of a crowd with a banner reading 'THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS', hanging from a gallows and being prodded with a trident by the devil.