Oblong 8vo. viii, 558pp, [38]. Contemporary reverse calf, tooled in black, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece. Rubbed and marked, some surface loss to upper board at top corner, spine dulled. Contemporary inked ownership inscription to title, occasional creasing.

The first edition of William Addington’s (1728-1811) register of 1,532 offences that includes, inter alia, buggery, burglary, maiming cattle, counterfeiting coins, forging bank-bills, apprehending highwaymen, killing deer, destroying mines, murder, payments to the poor, robbing the mail, smuggling, and the penalties and punishments to be applied. The work reached a fourth edition by 1795; intriguingly these subsequent printings were all produced as quartos, suggesting that the, frankly unwieldy, oblong format of the present edition had proved unpopular with the professional readership in want of a convenient reference work.