This is the original cover from its first publication in the Pall Mall Christmas “Extra”, in December 1884. The story is based on characters employed by Robert Knox, around the time of the Burke and Hare murders (November 1827 to October 31, 1828). Knox, a private anatomy lecturer for Edinburgh Medical College students. At the time the only legal supply of cadavers was the bodies of executed criminals. Due to new laws, the execution rate had dropped and finding legal bodies for anatomy students was a challenge. Grave-robbing became a way to illegally obtain bodies. Mssrs. Burke and Hare found it convenient to simply murder people and deliver their bodies to Knox.
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