Con Men and Cutpurses

Con Men and Cutpurses

Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld

Summary

An enthralling anthology of 18th-century writings that gives a fascinating insight into the dreadful misdeeds of - and the horrible punishments meeted out to - an array of rogues and criminals, from murderers and swindlers to prostitutes and pirates. Captured in memoirs, letters, ballads and court transcripts are some of the most colourful villains ever to take their last gasp at the hangman's noose, including daring thief Jack Sheppherd, highwayman Dick Turpin and ingenious pickpocket Jenny Diver. Taking us from the backstreets and brothels to Newgate prison and the gallows at Tyburn, this anthology reveals London's murky underworld in all its squalor and exuberance.

About the author

Lucy Moore

Lucy Moore was educated in Britain and the United States before reading history at Edinburgh University. She is the author of nine books including Maharanis: The Lives & Times of Three Generations of Indian Princesses (Viking 2004); Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France (Harper Collins 2006); Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties (Atlantic 2008); and, most recently, In Search of Us: Adventures in Anthropology (Atlantic 2022). Over the years she has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines including Prospect, the Observer, the Sunday Times, Vogue, the Ecologist and Bazaar and reviews regularly for the Literary Review. Television presenter work includes the three-part series ‘History of Prostitution’ (Sky) in 2006 and ‘Nelson’ for Great Britons (BBC2) in 2002 as well as numerous talking head appearances. She lives in Wiltshire with her husband and two sons. For more information please visit lucymoorebooks.co.uk .
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