Narrative of the Life of James Allen, Alias George Walton
By James Allen.
Alias Jonas Pierce.. The front cover of the famous skin-bound copy has a label which reads "HIC LIBER WALTONIS CUTE COMPACTUS EST" ("This book is bound in the skin of Walton"); Walton was one of the author's aliases. Some claim that books were bound in the skin of criminals. The narrative is a combination of autobiography and confession, transcribed by the warden, as the author himself was unable to write. It details Allen's life, beginning from childhood and laying out his struggles to find honest work as a teenager.[5] Allen explains how he moved from breaking into shops to highway robbery, and how he attempted to escape imprisonment many times. The book ends with a note from the warden, regarding Allen's state of mind toward the end of his life — Wikipedia.
Boston: Harrington & Co., 1837. 32p.