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20 Guineas Reward [Coal Mining Broadside] 23rd February 1825.
Publisher: E Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne;
Date of Publication: 1825
Stock Code: 5105
Broadside approximately 11” x 8 1/2”. Light folding crease (now faint) approx 2 inches from right-hand edge. Very minor foxing to margin; single small nick to edge and a little faint soiling top edge otherwise crisp. The subject matter concerns the tearing down of a deal stopping at Regency Pit, Coxlodge Colliery in Tyneside - deal stopping being the way that noxious gases were blocked off from the workings. This work of sabotage endangered “the Lives and Safety of the Workmen Employed in that Part of the Mine” and the colliery owners were anxious to find the culprits, hence the substantial reward of 20 Guineas. This period saw unrest in the mining industry as the workers began to assert their rights and demonstrate against the harsh conditions in which they were employed, resulting in the formation of a co-operative movement of which this act of vandalism was no doubt a part. Edward Walker, the printer, “probably the most productive commercial printer in Newcastle” also published an edition of Bewick’s Birds. £225.00