Author: [CROY (Robert)]
Title: A Narrative of the Grand Festival, at Yarmouth, on Tuesday, the 19th of April, 1814; with an Appendix, Containing Copies of all the Handbills which were Published on the Occasion; a List of the Subscribers; and an Account of the Expenditure.
Description: Yarmouth: Printed by J. Keymer, Unpublished, 1814. First Edition, 4to (260 x 205 mm), [2], 72pp., large paper copy, with an additional portrait of the author engraved by John Collyers, title-page printed in red and black, added engraved title depicting Neptune with trident framed by scenes of the celebrations, large folding engraved plan of the table layout along the quay, one further engraved plate, contemporary crimson morocco-backed boards, original pink printed label on upper cover, spine rubbed and joints cracked. A festival to celebrate the fall of Napoleon I, April 1814. a vivid account of the 'grand festival' in Great Yarmouth was written by Robert Cory, a local businessman and the builder of a suspension bridge across the River Yare which collapsed in 1845 with considerable loss of life. Inclusively was again the order of the day, and on a larger scale than at Cambridge: over 9,000 people were fed at fifty-eight tables stretched along the waterfront. An afternoon of feasting, donkey-racing and a 'pig hunt' culminated in the burning of a vast, symbolic bonfire representing the 'Funeral Pile of the Buonapartean Dynasty'. Despite concerns prompted by the participation of 'the lowest order of society', everything passed off peacefully. Even the weather obliged: the drizzle stopped five minutes before dinner was served.

Keywords: ENGLISH TOPOGRAPHY SOCIAL SCIENCES GREAT YARMOUTH NORFOLK NAPOLEON SOCIAL STUDIES HISTORY