The Newgate Calendar
I love old books, something about the type face, the smell and a crude woodcut picture. Marvellous.

My favourite one on my shelf is an 1826 copy of the Newgate Calendar Volume 1 I got from ebay for a tenner. It's basically an 18th century version of "Police, Camera, Action". It was intended as a book to teach children about the dastardly crimes committed by various inmates of Newgate Prison and their comeuppance (which was usually a cart-ride to dance the jig on the Tyburn gallows) as a means of keeping delicate young minds on the straight and narrow.

The reason it's one of my favourites though is that among the tales of Dick Turpin and some washer women that were hung for nicking hankies (18th century justice seemed to be a little on the harsh side) there is a detailed account of my scallywag ancestors accompanied by this charming woodcut of them throwing a frenchman overboard, tied back to back with his first mate (also of the haw-hee-haw variety), as they started what turned out to be a very short career in piracy:



Yarrrrg!!
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