NARRATIVE BY SHIRLEY HARRISON - The Diary of Jack the Ripper. The Discovery, The Investigation, The Debate. Includes the Full Text of the Diary and the Arguments for and Against Its Authenticity.

New York USA, Hyperion Press, 1993. First Edition, Binding: Cloth & Boards, Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall 1562827049 Hardback The identity of Jack the Ripper, history's first and most notorious serial killer, has confounded experts for decades. Here, at last, may be the answer to this complelling mystery. A diary found recently in Liverpool, England is signed "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper" and it describes in grisly detail the murders of 1888-89. The diary is filled with clues that identify its author as James Maybrick, a cotton merchant from Liverpool who died in 1889 of suspected arsenic poisoning. In another celebrated case of the day, Maybrick's wife Florie was accused of his murder. But as we read in the diary, Maybrick's poisoning was probably the result of his own arsenic addiction, an addiction that contributed to a secret life in London - as Jack the Ripper. The diary is the subject of a considerable controversy, and a report questioning its authenticity is included here, along with a rebuttal to that report. Certainly, whatever one concludes after reading these reports, there are many questions still unanswered.If Jack the Ripper was not James Maybrick, who was he?. And if this is not Maybrick's diary, who wrote it, and why?. The Diary of Jack the Ripper presents one of the most fascinating puzzles in crime history, and as we follow the detective work that overlays the diary with what is known about James Maybrick and Jack the Ripper, we can each decide: Were they one and the same. Illustrated.