LORDS OF THE SCAFFOLD A History of Execution

Paperback. SIGNED. Macabre, intriguing and blackly funny, here is a detailed account of executioners and their methods through the centuries. Public executions have been carried out, at different times, by the axe, sword, rope, wheel, guillotine, firing squad and electric chair - the chosen method a symbol of the message the body politic wanted its criminals to understand. The author introduces the reader to some of the unhappy victims who met their end on the scaffold, and recreates some famous - and infamous death scenes. Ranging from the brutal incompetence of the early axemen, through the masked anonymity of Charles 1's executioners to the practised and clinical speed of the guillotine, the book provides a vivid insight into the lives of those entrusted with exacting the ultimate penalty of the law. Illus., Select Bibliog. and Index. 191pp. p/back. Includes loosely inserted photograph/postcard INSC. AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR in his Yeoman Warder (retd) uniform, at the Tower of London. With the usual lightly browned pp. o/w Nr. F. with no creasing to covers.