The Newgate Calendar

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The Newgate Calendar, subtitled The Malefactors' Bloody Register, was a popular work of improving literature in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Originally a monthly bulletin of executions, produced by the keeper of Newgate prison in London, the Calendar's title was appropriated by other publishers, who put out biographical chapbooks about notorious criminals such as Sawney Bean, Dick Turpin and Moll Cutpurse.

Collected editions of these stories began to appear in the mid-18th century, and in 1774 a five-volume bound edition became the standard version. While many of its accounts are highly embellished and/or drawn uncritically from other sources, they are lively and full of incident, and often refer to contemporary events and social issues. They also editorialize strongly in favor of Protestantism, the Church of England, and the English monarchy (v. The Protectorate and Commonwealth of England) and against Catholicism.

A new edition was published in 1824 by Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin, two lawyers, and a further edition in 1826, under the title, The New Newgate Calendar.

An online version is available at [1].