Life of John Metcalf, Commonly Called Blind Jack of Knaresborough, with Many Entertaining Anecdotes of His Exploits in Hunting, Card-playing, andc., Some Particulars Relative to the Expedition Against the Rebels in 1745 in which He Bore a Personal Share, and also a Succinct Account of His Various Contracts for Making Roads, Erecting Bridges, and Other Undertakings, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire

First edition – the only 18th century edition of this often reprinted memoir. 154pp. Half bound in tan leather over purple cloth-covered boards, gilt lettering on spine. (Rubbed at spine tips, lightly worn all over, with patch of sun bleaching). Marbled endpapers. Pages toned, edge worn and a lightly soiled, with some clear finger marks. Half portrait on over-sized page, edges frayed, laid-in, as called for (’embellished with a striking half-length portrait), some old page repairs, central two leaves working loose. Memoirs of English eccentric John Metcalf (1717-1810), blinded by smallpox as a child but lived an unusually active life riding, swimming, gambling, music, and long-distance walking. An innovative road-builder, he also raised troops against the 1745 Jacobite rebellion and was present at the battles of Falkirk and Culloden. ESTC T92160. 1st edition not in Boyne, who notes only the second and subsequent editions (Boyne, A Yorkshire Library, p. 246). Scarce. 12mo.