Rosanna; the Oxford tragedy. In two parts.

The Oxford tragedy

Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers

1840-1850 per National Library of Scotland

8 pages

16 cm

'20' is printed at the bottom of the title page

Woodcut #62: Illustration on title-page of a young woman wearing a hat, dress, and shawl standing before a gate.

ballads & songs

A young girl from Oxfordshire is courted by a gentleman who persuades her to go out walking with him one day and rapes her. When she discovers she is with child, she writes to him begging him to marry her and save her from the public shame that would follow an illegitimate birth. The young man scorns her proposal but secretly fears what will happen when the pregnancy comes to light, so he decides to return home and murder her. He digs a grave under a tree that he knows she will walk by, and jumps out of the tree when she notices the grave. He kills her and buries her in the grave, but before she dies she claims that a damask rose will bloom upon her grave in winter as well as spring as proof of his deed. When this comes to pass and many marvel at the rose one year later, he returns to see if the rumours are true. When he touches the rose, it withers into dust, thereby proving that he is the murderer for all to see, which he immediately confesses to and is imprisoned.

Oxford, England

Courtship and Marriage

Crime

Chapbooks - Scotland - Glasgow

Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario

National Library of Scotland http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/main-catalogue-overview/

JPEGs and PDF derived from master file, which was scanned from the original book in 24-bit color at 600 dpi in TIFF format using an Epson Expression 10000XL scanner.

In public domain; For higher quality reproductions, contact Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph. libaspc@uoguelph.ca 519-824-4120, Ext. 53413

English

Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario, Canada