Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In prose and verse. Goode, T[homas], 80 Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell. London. Circa 1825.

46 printed pages + 2 pages publisher's adverts at end. Frontispiece, engraved title & 40 full-page woodcut illustrations. Each page printed within thin black borders. All edges gilt. No inscriptions. 42 x 60mm. Original black paper covers; block printed in gilt on upper cover, within elaborate gilt borders. Not in Bondy, Spielmann, nor Welsh. OCLC, 43324241. WorldCat locates only three copies worldwide (Florida, Harvard, and Virginia University Libraries). Goode's penny publications, such as this, made reading accessible to the growing working-class readership, encouraging literacy. This publication was one of the stock penny lines of the London street vendors and is interesting for its illustrations and specific literary form combining prose and poetry; the dual approach aimed to engage readers through different literary styles: descriptive prose for factual accounts and poetic verse for devotional or reflective passages. Dramatic illustrations made them the precursors to penny dreadfuls and modern comics. This title is one of the more elusive ones in Goode's output, and this example is in very good condition.