The Gipsies' Advocate; or, Observations on the Origin, Character, Manners, and Habits of the English Gipises: To Which are Added, Many Interesting Anecdotes, on the Success that has attended the Plans of Several Benevolent Individuals, Who Anxiously Desire Their Conversion to God.

London:: Baker and Sons,, 1831.. First edition.. 12mo.. Contemporary cloth, worn, with title on spine, in manuscript. Upper portion of spine damaged. Some foxing. Crabb, James (1774Ð1851), Wesleyan Methodist preacher."The work which brought Crabb the greatest public notice, though, was with the Gypsies. Crabb was drawn to the cause of a people seen as outcasts and aliens from society by the harsh treatment meted out to a Gypsy at the Winchester assizes for 1827. In November of that year Crabb formed a committee Ôto take into serious consideration, without loss of time, the peculiar habits, character, and condition of the forlorn Gipseys; and to adopt such measures as might be considered best calculated to promote their general improvementÕ... He also sought to bring knowledge of the Gypsies to a wider audience through his publication The Gypsies' advocate, or, Observations on the origin, character, manners and habits of the English Gipsies (1831). This was republished in shorter form as A Condensed History of the Gypsies (1843). Crabb himself frequently visited the Gypsy camps in Hampshire offering advice, sympathy, practical help, and religious instruction. A free school was opened for Gypsy children and a mission hut was erected for the adult Gypsies and poor of the district. In 1828 the Southampton committee appointed two agents, Mr Cope and Mr Stanley, the latter a settled Christian Gypsy, to visit the camps on a regular basis and provide instruction on the word of God and the benefits of a settled life. In December 1829 the camp visits were supplemented by an annual festival held in fields near Crabb's house and attended both by Gypsies and the gentry of the neighbourhood. Crabb was forced to discontinue his activities and involvement in 1847 because of ill health." [Oxford DNB] Black, Gyp. Bibl. 969. NSTC 2C41618.