September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
Booklet, "The Code of Honor, Or, Rules for the Government of Principals and Seconds in Dueling," by John Lyde Wilson, (1784-1849), 50 pages with wraps, Charleston, SC, printed by James Phinney, 1858, fine. The CODE provides rules regarding duels to include "how to present the challenge, how to accept the challenge, who will be present, etc. In 1838, Governor John Lyde Wilson, of South Carolina, wrote the first official U.S. adaptation of the Irish Code Duello. As an innovation on the Irish code, Wilson's Code Duello formalized the U.S. principle that required satisfaction to follow a confrontation: if a person challenged to a duel, or that person's second, refused to raise arms, public insults would follow, such as postings on walls declaring the individual a coward, a poltroon, a puppy, or worse. Although Wilson did not proclaim enthusiastic support of duels, he did believe that in certain instances, they were necessary and proper; dueling, he felt, served as a logical recourse for any individual seeking satisfaction in a case where the law could not provide it. Wilson's sixteen-page pamphlet remained popular and was not reprinted until 1858 (this copy).
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