John Master’s Will: The Hornby Castle Dispute, 1780-1840

First edition, first impression.  xiv, 226pp, with a central section of black and white plate illustrations.  Sapphire cloth-covered boards, gilt titles to spine.  Cloth a little pushed in at spine tips else volume is neat, clean, bright and tight.  In its original glossy, illustrated dust wrapper, not price clipped, moderately bumped on extreme edges. 

The story of an extraordinary legal case.  Marsden was a mentally retarded gentleman from Lancashire who was cared for by his aunt. His aunt’s lover, manservant George Wright – effectively inherited their castle home in Marden’s will, even though the aunt  had died previously.  The will was contested by the heir at law who, in order to make his case, had to prove and attest Marsden’s mental incapacity – and thereby ensured a complex and compelling legal drama which enthralled the public for close to a generation.