MY EXPERIENCES AS AN EXECUTIONER

Hardback. Edited by H. Snowden Ward. With new Introduction and additional Appendices outlining the history of capital punishment by Jonathan Goodman. James Berry, who plied the gallows trade from 1884 to 1892, was the first - and the last - British hangman to write freely about the techniques of execution. He describes not only his personal attitude towards the ultimate punishment but also that of many of the condemned prisoners whose fall he engineered. Britain's Official Secrets Act was extended to forbid executioners' memoirs soon after the book was first published. His book, a collector's item for many years, is uniquely informative. It is a fascinating social document; an indispensable work of reference for criminologists; a contribution to the argument between those who wished to see the return of capital punishment and those who regarded death by hanging as a barbaric anachronism. Illus., Appendices. 144pp. small 8vo. h/back. With tipped-in label SIGNED BY JONATHAN GOODMAN. F. in Vg+ dw. which is showing light signs of shelfwear.