TOM CRIB'S MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS. WITH A PREFACE, NOTES AND APPENDIX. BY ONE OF THE FANCY.
New York: Reprinted for Kirk and Mercein....William A. Mercein, Printer, 1819. 12mo. Bound in original paper-covered boards [spine chipped and worn]. 120pp, with the half title. Foxed lightly, untrimmed. Good+.
This first American edition is evidently the earliest book printed in America with substantial boxing content. It first issued from London, also in 1819. Moore, a prolific Irish author, uses boxing slang to satirize the Holy alliance and the Congress system.
Page 33 begins his poetic 'Memorial to Congress.' The book argues that, with war ended by the Alliance, prize fighting has become the only way to settle international disputes. He demonstrates "a talent for political satire which no English writer in the same kind has surpassed or indeed equalled" [Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature 345. 1903].
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. AI 48741 [4]. Henderson, Early American Sport 180. OCLC locates eight, under several accession numbers as of June 2026. Item #42152
Price: $375.00