Memoirs of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs. Boston: Charles Gaylord, 1840.
Stephen Burroughs was one of the most notorious counterfeiters, and several versions of his autobiography appeared from the late-18th century through the antebellum era. Before a late-life conversion to Catholicism and honest living, Burroughs oversaw a sophisticated counterfeiting ring extending from Canada into the United States which brought down several banks whose notes he imitated. The frontispiece to this edition illustrates Burroughs early in his life as a confidence man. He is delivering his famous “Hay Mow Sermon” in front of an angry mob enraged to discover that he was not a minister, as he claimed, but merely an imposter.
