Hoax.- False prophets.- Jennings (Printed and sold by) Account of the Uproar in Berner's-Street Oxford-Street on Tuesday last, in consequence of the Hoax put upon a number of tradesmen &c, letterpress, 330 x 210 mm, some careful repairs to small nicks and losses, Water-lane, Fleet street, London [c.1810]; together with a small handbill 'To be Seen, at the Bedford Head, Henrietta-Street, Covent-Garden, A Strange and Wonderful Prophet!', letterpress, 125 x 190 mm (4 7/8 x 7 1/2 in), nicks and tears, handling creases, unframed, [late 18th or early 19th century]; and with a farcical broadside on the collecting of tithes '...Farmers, are ye Mad!...N.B. Wanted, a man to collect the Tithes of Litter and Sedge in Burwell Fen. He must be provided with mud boots, water proof, and a boat...', 260 x 250 mm (10 1/4 x 9 7/8 in), handling creases, minor spotting and surface dirt, Wilson, printer, early 19th century (3)
⁂ The Berners Street hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook (1788-1841) in Westminster, London, England, in 1810. Hook, a man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius, had made a bet with his friend Samuel Beazley that he could transform any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, which he achieved by sending out thousands of letters in the name of Mrs Tottenham, who lived at 54 Berners Street, requesting deliveries, visitors and assistance. (Wikipedia)
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