The Trial and Life of Mary Bateman, The Yorkshire Witch, Traced from the Earliest Thefts of her Infancy through a Most Awful Course of Crimes and Murders, Till Her Execution At the New Drop Near the Castle of York on Monday the 20th of March, 1809

60pp saddle stitched chapbook. Printed paper cover (worn, rubbed and chapped at edges and cracks along spine, soiled and stained). Internally generally neat and clean, barring some chapping and soiling at page margins, final page is heavily chipped at base and has pale patch. Mary Bateman was a notorious, and capable, thief, liar and murderess. She was arrested on suspicion of fraud but under questioning the Commissioners came to suspect that she was guilty of the wilful murder of one Rebecca Pergio, and it was this crime for which she was tried and executed. The first page of this chapbook recounts, in a semi-lurid style, her life and times, while the final section is a detailed account of her trial, held at York Castle. Several accounts of her life and trial were rushed out at the time of her trial and execution and in the following few years. It is hard to know which was first, or the precise date of their publication, but this chapbook is of the cheap, sensationalist style typically rushed out to capitalise on an immediate desire for salacious entertainment and therefore likely dates from 1809 or 1810. Crime was a key theme in the chapbooks produced by J Kendrew, who operated in York from 1802 or 1803 until his death in 1841.