Broadside: 50 Pounds for a Kiss and Nothing More

John Chapman, Printer, Lamb Street. [BROADSIDE] 50 Pounds for a Kiss and Nothing More. Bristol, John Chapman, Printer, Lamb St., [c.1850]. Single sheet broadside, 250 × 195 mm, printed in two columns; lightly creased and toned, small marginal nicks, otherwise well preserved. Very good. A moral ballad printed in Bristol, recounting the downfall of a "fine Bristol merchant" who offers fifty pounds to a "prudent young girl of the Red School" for "a kiss and nothing more." The girl exposes his intentions, and the merchant's humiliation becomes a public lesson in virtue. The author, signing himself "W. Lee," casts the episode as a cautionary tale. Issued by John Chapman of Lamb Street-active as a street ballad printer in Bristol in the 1840s-50s-this is a characteristic example of provincial moral satire. Beneath its provocative title lies a call for respectability and a mocking of class privilege, typical of the tone found in mid-nineteenth-century street literature. A rare item. . Very Good. Soft cover. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 1850.