Persius, Charles. [Charles Dunne pseud.]. Rouge et Noir,

The Academicians of 1823; or, The Greeks of the Palais Royal, And the Clubs of St. James..
London,: Lawler and Quick., 1823..
First edition. 8vo. Bound in contemporary original boards, blue linen spine, somewhat soiled and faded, over brown pasteboard with some bumping and wear to extremities. White paper title label to spine, somewhat yellowed and lightly cracked but complete. Edges untrimmed. Pages 311 to 438 redacted upon publication. Hand coloured frontispiece (“La Roulette.”). Bookplate of Sir Joseph Pullen to front pastedown. Internally clean. A rollicking, scandalous and entertaining account of the anecdotal and historically verifiable dangers of gaming houses, gambling dens and houses of pleasure (“Some account is annexed of the numberless suicides, robberies and murders committed in those pest-houses...”), predominantly in London and Paris. Accounts of skullduggery, cheating, scandal, dice breaking, and licentiousness abound, and we have trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Prince Regent (although at this point he'd been George IV for a couple of years). Lovely in its original state, delightful in content, dubious in intent.
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