Famous hoax.- Caraboo: A Narrative of a Singular Imposition, practised upon the Benevolence of a Lady residing in the Vicinity of the City of Bristol, first edition, half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece by N. Braithwhite and folding engraved plate by E.Bird, some light spotting, final two leaves with marginal repairs, affecting a couple of letters of text, later half calf, 8vo, Bristol & London, 1817.

⁂ The account of an elaborate hoax. In early 1817 a young woman arrived at Almondsbury in Gloucestershire speaking in a language which the villagers could not understand. Apparently of oriental descent, she was taken in by a local couple and became something of a cause celebre. From interpretation of various signs, gestures and words it was claimed she was Caraboo, a princess of Javasu in the Indian Ocean who had been captured by pirates and sold to the captain of a brig. She had escaped by jumping ship, swimming ashore and then eventually, after six weeks of wandering, found herself at Almondsbury. The local newspapers of Bath and Bristol gave her increasing attention but after about ten weeks she was exposed as Mary Wilcocks, the daughter of a shoemaker Thomas Wilcocks and Mary Burgess of Witheridge, Devon. She was also known as Mary Baker, the name of her supposed first husband.