BLACK BESS or THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD in Two Volumes - a classic Penny Dreadful of Dick Turpin: 1865-7 2nd Edition in 160 parts, 80 parts per volume.

BLACK BESS or THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD in Two Volumes by Edward VIles & John Frederick Smith. 18.5 cm x 27 cm Recently rebound collection of BLACK BESS penny dreadfuls issued from 1865-7 in the second edition or first re-issue. The parts here were originally bound in two volumes by the publisher, evidenced by the fact that the page edges are neatly and uniformly trimmed and patterning was applied to the edges, which could not happen from a free collection by a consumer. The original boards were weak and worn, so to preserve the contents they were professionally rebound as seen with new boards joined onto leather spine. Issued in 1865-7 in many parts, each part sold for One Penny. The earlier parts of this 2nd edition of BLACK BESS were issued along with the rare pullout posters (see other listings for a selection available to buy) which equalled 20 in all according to the page edge notes which explain which pullout posters were issued with what parts of the story. No poster pullouts were issued with the 1st edition of BLACK BESS (1863-5), but for the 2nd edition which ran from August 1865-7. The 3rd edition was in 1868 and may have been shortened. Scholars have confused things by presuming BLACK BESS ran from 1863-68, when in fact three issues of the story were put forth during that period. Each part of the 2nd edition for sale here contains 8 pages of illustrated text. There are 1280 pages in these two bound volumes. If there still exist any of the 1st Edition of BLACK BESS, they have not appeared on the market in recent years. This rare copy of the 2nd edition contains 160 parts over 1280 printed pages, with 80 parts contained in each bound volume and 8 pages per part. The contents of the first volume can be read here: https://archive.org/details/blackbessorknigh01vile/page/640/mode/2up. which covers up to page 680. Black Bess is a heavily fictionalised account of the life and death of the infamous English highway bandit Dick Turpin (1705-1739). Black Bess was named for Dick Turpin's horse on which legend has it Turpin rode the 200 miles between York and London in a single night. Black Bess is rated among the most successful of the 'penny bloods' or 'penny dreadfuls'. The first penny dreadfuls were influenced by the popular Gothic fiction of the pre-Victorian era – featuring gypsies, pirates and romantic adventure – but gradually the focus turned to tales of true-life crime, and later true-life detection. Edward Viles is usually credited with writing Black Bess and he published a follow-on series to the tale in 1868 named The Black Highwayman. The attribution of this work also to the hand of John Frederick Smith as a collaborator with Viles is not proven, but seems most likely. Smith was called the most popular writer of the mid-19th Century. He penned the entirety of Cassell's 'History Of England', although the publisher neglected to credit him. In the same manner Edward Viles was reputed as an exploiter and JF Smith was seemingly a man keen to be exploited. It is reckoned Viles had the original ideas for Black Bess while Smith wrote them into text in his swift manner to meet the deadline for the printing of each part. Because Smith was relaxed about taking credit for his works, there is controversy over what he wrote and what he did not. His "known" works ran up to 1862 then he wrote nothing apparently during the 5 years Black Bess was being issued by Viles and his publisher E. Harrison of London. Then JF Smith is credited with more works, so the missing 5 years in Smith's career can be explained by his hand in Black Bess. The blog site on below link discusses the opinion that JF SMITH was involved in writing BLACK BESS. http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2010/01/author-of-black-bess.html pp 1280, being 160 parts of BLACK BESS. Condition: Exterior is Fine (rebound). Interior is Very Good+ These books have been read over the past 150 years, so expect a little light soiling to the pages, occasional closed tears at page edges and occasional pages turned at corners. However, there are no serious issues, almost all pages are clean and tidy as seen.