8vo (197 x 114 mm). Wood-engraved head-piece and initial. (Light soiling to title, front hinge starting after title.) Later quarter calf, marbled boards (light rubbing at ends and fore-corners). Provenance: Nathan Comfort Starr (bookplate); sold, Heritage (8-9 April 2015, sale 6117, lot 45108).

FIRST EDITION. A Sure Guide to Hell is a comic and satirical attack on the follies and vices of the day, written in response to A Sure Guide to Heaven. Under the persona of “Belzebub,” the author offers mock advice to youths—encouraging acts such as defacing public parks and buildings—employing irony to expose the moral failings of Georgian society. EXCEEDINGLY RARE: According to online records, this is the only copy to appear at auction since 1967 (Swann).