Some Short and Useful Reflections upon Duelling, which should be in

HAMILTON, Joseph. Some Short and Useful Reflections upon Duelling, which should be in the Hands of every Person who is Liable to Receive a Challenge, or an Offence.

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HAMILTON, Joseph Some Short and Useful Reflections upon Duelling, which should be in the Hands of every Person who is Liable to Receive a Challenge, or an Offence. Dublin, Printed for the Author, 1823.

12mo. Tan half-calf over marbled paper boards, gilt title to spine; pp. 106, [2, ads], leaflet from the 'anti-duelling association' tipped in to rear; covers rubbed showing corners, binding sturdy, pages clean and bright bar faint damp marking to lower corner of middle gatherings, typewritten vintage bookseller label attached to front free endpaper.
A treatise condemning the practice of duelling. The book is divided into short sections, as the author notes in his introduction that most works on the subject are too voluminous or expensive. On Duelling is an essay arguing that Duelling is inconsistent with "true honor" - the author gets a little carried away with the footnotes, which in some cases swamp entire pages in historical anecdotes about famous leaders who dealt with illegal duelling in various grisly ways. Extracts from Advice to Seconds is included "solely for the purpose of exposing the murderous conduct" of seconds, as "an admirable little satire on duelling". Duelling Anecdotes is a comprehensive and gruesome list of duels gone horribly wrong, filled with tragic deaths and wronged widows.
Lastly, and perhaps most impressively, the book finishes with The Best Mode of Preventing Duelling in which the author proposes that the winner of any duel should be entombed alive with his victim. Furthermore, every year the prisoner should be extracted and dragged through the streets alongside the corpse of his victim to a jeering crowd. This, the author suggests, would be a sufficient deterrent to stop duelling in its tracks. He was probably right.
Tipped in at the rear is a printed leaflet from the Anti-Duelling Association with book reviews praising On Duelling.

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