See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

100 used & new from $0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

See all product images
See all 2 customer images

Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle Don�t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London (Hardcover)

by Sarah Wise (Author) "George Beaman, surgeon to the parish of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, turned back the scalp of the corpse lying before him..." (more)
Key Phrases: most deathlike silence, resurrection trade, brad awl, Nova Scotia Gardens, Old Bailey, John Bishop (more...)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

25 new from $2.90 73 used from $0.01 2 collectible from $26.00

Also Available in:	List Price:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Paperback			31 used & new from $0.01

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Con Men and Cutpurses: Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld (Penguin Classics)

by Lucy Moore

$11.90

Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs

by John Thomson

5.0 out of 5 stars (6) $11.53

The London Underworld in the Victorian Period: Authentic First-Person Accounts by Beggars, Thieves and Prostitutes (v. 1)

by Henry Mayhew

4.0 out of 5 stars (2) $14.00

Sinn Fein: A Hundred Turbulent Years (History of Ireland & the Irish Diaspora)

by Brian Feeney

5.0 out of 5 stars (1) $15.56

Murder in Shakespeare's England

by Vanessa McMahon

3.0 out of 5 stars (1) $22.76

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
British historian Wise's well-written first book explores the grisly underbelly of pre-Victorian London by examining the trial of three "body snatchers," John Bishop, James May and Thomas Williams, who were arrested in 1831 while attempting to sell the suspiciously fresh cadaver of a teenage boy to a medical college. Drawing on astonishingly detailed research, Wise places the crime in context by describing how a shadowy "resurrection" trade in exhumed bodies had grown up to meet the rising demand of the new science of anatomy. She explains how various Londoners, including several Italians, testified that a hat found at Bishop's home matched that of a recently vanished Italian boy peddler. Soon the new London police force was sleuthing its way to the bottom of a case that caused widespread alarm and a media circus in a city notorious for its numbers of missing persons. Wise energetically explicates every twist of the evidence with fascinating detours into the wider social context of newly vulnerable urban family life, punitive poor laws and fragmented philanthropy. Biographies of the trio of body snatchers demystify the Victorian criminal. Wise's deft prose contributes vastly to our understanding of pre-Victorian London's everyday street life, districts, trades, policing, prisons and press. Meanwhile, she skillfully manages the narrative, keeping her story gripping without sensationalizing it. Generously illustrated, this is a macabre yet historically serious work, invaluable to anyone interested in the truth of London's gory past.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Making good use of scant information, Wise chronicles one of the most celebrated crimes of the 19th century, perpetrated by the dreaded "Resurrection Men." These were grave robbers engaged in the lucrative practice of providing London's medical schools with cadavers for dissection. As demand exceeded supply, some turned to homicide, especially since the freshest bodies brought the highest reward. By the end of the book, readers have gained knowledge of the controversial creation of Robert Peal's "bobbies," the primitive origins of crime-scene investigation, and the conduct of British jury trials of the period. The author describes the exponential growth of the city in the first third of the 19th century, the precarious economic situation of the lower population strata, and the poverty and filth that so appalled later Victorians and led them to take corrective action. She explains why Italian boys–and many other children–called the streets of London home and why the poor were perpetual crime victims. This engrossing and suspenseful blending of sociology, history, and true crime will appeal to both researchers and casual readers.–Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; First Edition. edition (June 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805075372
ISBN-13: 978-0805075373
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #442,282 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
George Beaman, surgeon to the parish of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, turned back the scalp of the corpse lying before him. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
most deathlike silence, resurrection trade, brad awl, official confessions, nine guineas, resurrection men, smock frock, eight guineas, parish constable, resurrection man, clothes dealer, white mice, eyewitness evidence

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Nova Scotia Gardens, Old Bailey, John Bishop, Bow Street, Covent Garden, Thomas Williams, James May, Superintendent Thomas, King's College, Bethnal Green, Select Committee, James Corder, Carlo Ferrari, Sir Astley, Webb Street, Richard Partridge, Whitworth Russell, Fanny Pigburn, Morning Advertiser, Guy's Hospital, Metropolitan Police, Theodore Williams, Oxford Street, Sessions House, Crabtree Row

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 67 books:

Oliver Twist (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens on 9 pages
Death, Dissection and the Destitute by Ruth Richardson on 6 pages
Charles Dickens (Great Lives) by Rob Abbott in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Readers Level 6) by Dickens on page 98, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Charles Dickens by John Forster in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)

See all 67 books this book cites

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Death, Dissection and the Destitute by Ruth Richardson

Discusses:

The Rough Guide to London 4 by Rob Humphreys

Discusses:

Dr. Johnson's London by Liza Picard

Discusses:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).

elizabeth gaskell(6)

19th century britlit classics(5)

british history(4)

english history(4)

classic literature(4)

victorian(4)

police procedural(3)

women in history(3)

jane austen(3)

michael dibdin(2)

biography(2)

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ghoulish, Entertaining History, July 4, 2004

By	R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

They were known as "grabs", "lifters", "exhumators", and especially as "resurrection men." The number of euphemisms for their trade indicates a distaste for it; they were bodysnatchers, and in nineteenth century London, they had a good, if not respectable, trade. Sarah Wise, in _The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London_ (Metropolitan Books), has revived (so to speak) a story that has not been retold since the newspapers and broadsheets made it a sensation in its time. Far more famous is the case of the "Edinburgh Horrors" wherein William Burke and William Hare had not only snatched bodies but had manufactured them by murdering the victims first. Their crimes have entered literature and the movies, and "to burke" is even a term for the act. Three years later in 1831, similar crimes in London came to light and horrified and fascinated Londoners. Wise's book will do the same for the modern reader.

For medical students and anatomists in England, there was only one legal supply of cadavers for dissection, the gallows; getting cut up for show was another particular indignity that could be extended to the condemned. This might have been enough in years gone by, but in 1831 only 52 people were executed. A freshly exhumed corpse would fetch around ten guineas, at a time when a well-paid workingman might bring home eighty guineas a year, so the trade could be lucrative. Carlo Ferrari was a pretty fourteen-year-old street urchin who walked the city with his cage of white mice (and maybe a turtle) until he ran into the villains of this tale. The resurrectionists involved lured him to a home in a semi-rural part of the city, drugged him and drowned him, and then set off to peddle his body. When it looked too fresh, the police were called, and an investigation showed that Ferrari had not been the only victim. Less than a month after the murder was made public, John Bishop, James May, and Thomas Williams stood trial in the Old Bailey. In a fitting conclusion to their careers, the resurrection men found guilty were resurrected onto the anatomist's table. It was discovered that Bishop "... had an extraordinarily good physique, proving far more useful as a specimen than the produce he used to deliver."

The trial was a big case for the new London police force, and the role of the Police Inspector, then a novelty, was highlighted and began its acceptance by the public. The trial threw light on the horrid trade, its prevalence and the medical men who were accessories in its perpetuation. It served as a spark to reformation, contributing to the passing of the second Anatomy Bill in 1832, which allowed bodies other than those of the hanged miscreants to be a source of instruction. The unclaimed bodies of paupers could thereupon be used for dissection, and thus the "horrors" of the dissecting table started becoming less horrible; today enlightened future corpses often will their bodies for anatomical teaching. Wise's startling tale, well illustrated and fetid with cesspools, abattoirs, dissecting rooms, prisons, and Tudor slums, opens again a grotesque and brutal underworld and makes for an entertaining, gruesome history.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing history of murder, bodysnatching 1830's London., June 23, 2004

By	S. Calhoun "rhymeswithorange" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Before the passage of the 1830's Anatomy Act that allowed medical schools legal usage of bodies of the unclaimed poor, grave robbing was a common occurrence in London and the surrounding countryside. Resurrection men were known to raid newly dug graves and sell the bodies to medical schools for dissection purposes. If a resurrection man was good at his trade he often made more money pedaling the bodies of the dead than the average laborer. Due to the medical establishment's demand for fresh bodies usually outpaced the supply it wasn't uncommon for individuals to be murdered for their bodies.

THE ITALIAN BOY thoroughly examines the notorious crimes of three London resurrection men who were charged with the murder of a young Italian street performer in November 1831. Sarah Wise performs a good job in bringing to life this period of London's history that was full of social and political transformations. Although many of the passages pertaining to the trail were dry, there are enough tidbits of social history to make reading this book more than worthwhile. The descriptions of the police investigations and the infancy of forensic knowledge were interesting, along with everyday descriptions of 1830's London.

The lure of reading books about the underbelly of life in 19th century London is always difficult for me to resist; if you also enjoy this subject matter then this book will give you a satisfying fix to cure your cravings. 4.5 stars. Recommended.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real Historical event reconstructed, London 1831 - The Story of the Italian Boy., August 19, 2006

By	Andrea Bowhill "acrosscontinents" (England) - See all my reviews

The Italian boy was one of a thousand of orphans living on the London streets in 1831, amongst the poor in company of con artist, beggars and prostitutes. The Italian boy's body was sold to a London medical college and the suppliers of the body were caught and arrested for murder. When this high profile court case took place it was unravelled there was a London trade in human corpses. These men hid behind the complete chaos of a growing city. Choosing their prey amongst low lives whose bodies would never be missed. These Murderous thieves two in particular John Bishop and Thomas Williams were known to the City of London as the Body Snatchers (The London Burkers) a third was arrested soon after James May, they killed to satisfy their market demand. All three was charged with the murder of Carlo Ferrari. Words spoken in court at the Old Bailey, "The fresher the body the higher the price". Demand was coming from Doctors looking to make a break through in science of the human anatomy fresh dissection was needed.

Sarah Wise the author has weaved a story with historical events using the Investigation into the case of the London Burkers following the trail itself of 1831. Reconstructing the story in her own words looking at the lives of lower-class Londoners, with a vivid description of London with all its sight's and smells bringing life to a city and the characters who were corpse trafficking. Ms Wise follows through the trail, which ended with the controversial legislation (The Anatomy Bill, passed in 1832) which marked the beginning of the end to body-snatching in Britain. Sarah Wise is an historian of Victorian England. This book had me gripped in its pages with fantastic history, descriptions can be gruesome but all woven into a great piece of storytelling.

A.Bowhill

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 10 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story, but tangental in places
The Italian Boy is the story of a little-known 19th century murder. The story begins in 1832 with the delivery of the body of an "Italian boy" to one of London's many private... Read more

Published 4 months ago by K. Huff

3.0 out of 5 stars Great subject, poorly written
Despite the fascinating topic, Sarah Wise has somehow managed to create an oddly sprawling, poorly conceived narrative. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Kathryn F. McKinney

5.0 out of 5 stars "Resurrection Men"
This book, in alternating chapters, tells the true tale of a murder trial, and also a brief history of "resurrection men", grave-robbers who supplied boldies to anatomists for... Read more

Published on October 16, 2006 by Frank J. Konopka

3.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating story presented in an uniteresting format
The murder mystery of the Italian boy and other victims of 19th century "burking" (body snatching) should be a suspenseful, Grand Guignol true-crime fest for readers. Read more

Published on March 25, 2006 by Nelson Aspen

5.0 out of 5 stars Society shooting itself in the foot again
The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sarah Wise, despite its rather lurid title, is a very down to earth study of life in early 19th century... Read more

Published on May 3, 2005 by Atheen M. Wilson

3.0 out of 5 stars more than you would ever want to know...
the reviews of this book were generally favorable, but i found the detail overwhelming. actually, i should say, the extraneous details were overwhelming. Read more

Published on April 12, 2005 by demanding reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Grisly Look at 1830s London
Sarah Wise enters a Dickensian London underground as she follows the true historical tale of body-snatchers in 1830s on trial for the murder (burking) of an Italian boy in order... Read more

Published on June 15, 2004 by Ricky Hunter

› See all 10 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
history Why does Holocaust Denial Exist?	5213	12 minutes ago
history Did we eat the Neanderthals?	121	35 minutes ago
history What was the Romans greatest contribution to posterity?	70	48 minutes ago
history What was the Worst Military Defeat in History?	19	52 minutes ago
history History of the Palestinian Nation?	754	1 hour ago
history Islam is positive: Yes or No?	85	1 hour ago
history Greatest Military Man in History?	786	1 hour ago