Tragical History of Jane Arnold, Commonly called Crazy Jane; and Mr. Henry Percival; Giving an account of their birth, parentage, courtship, and melancholy end.

History of Crazy Jane.

Jonathan's hunting excursion.

Holding one's own.

An American jury.

Sweets of liberty.

An Irish coachman gaining his first place.

No wish to intrude.

Scene in a school-room.

Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers

1840-1850 per National Library of Scotland

24 pages

Chapbook #5 in a bound collection of 20 chapbooks (s0231b06)

Chapbook #15 in a bound collection of 34 chapbooks (s0098b48)

Chapbook #31 in bound collection of 37 chapbooks (s0042b27)

71 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.

moral tales

This chapbook provides a moral tale that advises young women to be wary of the promises of young men by describing the potential dangers of giving up one’s virtue before marriage. The story describes the courtship of the beautiful and virtuous Jane Arnold by the deceptive Henry Percival, who seduces her with promises of love and marriage. She eventually succumbs to his deceptions and gives up her virtue, only to be strung along with more promises until he finally abandons her altogether to make his fortune in the West Indies. These tragic events cause her to miscarriage and lose her sanity. When Henry’s deceptions become known to both families, Henry is disowned and disinherited, while Jane continues to be doomed to madness until she eventually dies, presumably of a broken heart. Years later, Henry returns, haunted by regrets of what he had done to Jane, as well as by the ghost of Jane herself, until he eventually commits suicide. The tale concludes with a brief reminder to all young lovers of the tragic end awaiting all such couples who fail to wait for marriage. The tale itself is followed by seven short, humorous anecdotes.

Wiltshire, England

Courtship and Marriage

Crime

Chapbooks - Scotland - Glasgow

Supernatural

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

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

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