From the inside cover:

"In 1817 a young woman of exotic appearance was found wandering near Bristol. She spoke in a language that no-one could understand except, seemingly, a Portuguese sailor. He claimed that she was a Sumatran princess from the island of Javasu. Princess Caraboo, as she was known, became a national celebrity and lived in a grand style, entertaining many distinguished visitors. But, a few weeks later, she was exposed as Mary Baker, the daughter of a cobbler from Devonshire.

Mary's deception is one of several intriguing stories of nineteenth-century fraudsters bought to light in Linda Stratmann's new book. While 'Princess Caraboo' was a relatively harmless hoax, 'The Crooks Who Conned Millions' also exposes darker tales. Dickens based unscrupulous banker Mr Merdle in 'Little Dorrit' on John Sadleir. Sadleir was the director of the Tipperary Joint Stock Bank who had sold forged share certificates to his own family and falsified balance sheets. When the bank finally collapsed, ruining hundreds of small investors, Sadleir committed suicide. While Sadleir's guilt was obvious, in the Stock Exchange fraud of 1814 - when a false rumour that Napolean had died was circulated to drive up share prices - opinion was divided. The suspected culprit, Ernest Terah Hooley, one of the greatest fraudsters of the century, wrote his memoirs in a jolly and unblushing style, quite openly admitting the corruption.

From the tall tales of 'Louis de Rougemont' to the 'Earl' who claimed to own Canada, from the mystery of the 'Double Duke' to the unscrupulous Marquis de Bourbel, these riveting tales of true crime, told in a lively and anecdotal style, expose the seamier side of life in which corruption, avarice and scandal hold sway."

Bought cheaply, especially for BookCrossing purposes.

Planning to release at this evening's 'D'You Lie?'-themed BC Meetup in York...

releasing, as promised...

I thought this book was interesting, but quite dry and so i found it a bit of a hard read. Really interesting stories though, and interesting because some of them are historical that the things they got away with then, they could never get away with now!

I enjoyed this look at 19th century con artists. Some of them were utterly bonkers, like the Princess of Javasu. I have to admit I didn't undersand some of the stories that had a lot to do with investments and finance etc!

To be released at the monthly York Bookcrossing meetup.

not picked up at the meet...

left on the shelf...

Interesting accounts showing how 19th century fraudsters employ the same tricks as the Wolf of Wall Street!

Since this has been kicking around the Meetup for a while now, in order to free up some space on the Brigantes OBCZ Bookshelf, I thought I'd move it on to the Ye Olde Starre Inne OBCZ Bookshelf - where hopefully it'll find some new readers...

releasing, as promised...