Facsimile reprint. 416pp, with two engraved illustrations. Maroon cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on the spine. 8vo. Cloth is a little tired and shadow marked, gently rounded at corners. An ex university library copy with call number on spine, small label on upper panel, labels and stamp on front endpapers and blank label on rear paste down, stamps on text block edges (no other library markings).
The Fleet Papers is a series of letters written by Leeds born Richard Oastler, a radical Tory known as the Factory King, while imprisoned in the Fleet Prison for debt. Published as a periodical starting in 1841, the letters advocate for factory reform and abolition of slavery and show Oastler's opposition to the New Poor Law of 1834, Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. The letters were addressed to Thomas Thornhill - it was Oastler's alleged debt to Thornhill for which he was imprisonment - and offer insight into Oastler's radical Tory views and his significant role in the factory reform movement.
