De BERENGER, Lt. Col. Baron [Charles Random]. Helps and Hints How to Protect Life and Property. With instructions in rifle and pistol shooting. &c. London, for the Proprietor by Hurst 1835. Octavo publisher's green grained cloth (rebacked with the original spine preserved); viii,286,[2]pp, two folding lithograph views, eight etched plates by George or Robert Cruikshank, wood engravings through the text. A leaf torn without loss, a little browning of the lithographs, the rebacking perhaps a bit thorough but a rather good copy in a modern cloth slipcase. Au$450
How not to leave a bank; how to deal with footpads, whether on foot or in a carriage; and countless other useful tips on how to survive in London, on the highway and in the country (''eject out of a room, how to, anyone with certainty'' surely works in town or country). The last 30 some pages, which includes the etchings and lithographs, is an advertisement for de Berenger's Stadium, or British National Arena which covered 24 acres of Chelsea.
The Baron de Berenger, or Charles Random, who has been described variously as an inventor, sharpshooter, print colourer and stockmarket fraud, set up his Stadium in 1831 and held modern Olympics there in 1832 and 1838. He certainly had no claim to the rank of Lt. Colonel but there is some uncertainty about his claim to his title; it may have some validity.
The Cruikshank brothers seem to have had a closer relationship with Berenger than mere hired illustrators: Arthur G. Credland, in an article on Berenger in 'Arms & Armour' (2006), speculates that through their keen interest in archery and shooting that one, or both of them, taught at the Stadium and he recounts a less than illustrious heritage for Berenger transmitted via the Cruikshanks.
