[John B. Gough, 'the Apostle of Cold Water', American temperance orator.] Lithographic handbill titled 'John B. Gough's Beautiful Peroration on Water', the text accompanied by a portrait of Gough on stage, holding up a glass of water.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with small piece cut away from one corner, and traces of mount adhering to the blank reverse, which also carries a few marks in ink, with a couple of minor marks in the margin at the foot of the recto. At the head of the page is the engraving, roughly 12.5 x 12 cm, attractively done, and showing Gough in cutaway jacket and waistcoat, standing behind a table, with a seated audience behind him, holding aloft a glass of water. The text consists of 19 lines in small type, beginning: 'This is the liquor which God, the Eternal brews for his children - not in the simmering still, over smoky fires, choked with poisonous gases, and surrounded with a stench of sickening odours and rank corruptions [...]'. It concludes: 'Speak out, my friends, would you exchange it for DEMON'S DRINK - ALCOHOL?' Tisdall does not feature in BBTI, and COPAC has no record of any publication by him. Possibly dating from Gough's 1853 visit to England, at the invitation of the London Temperance League, when he was entertained by the artist George Cruikshank. Scarce: no copy on COPAC or WorldCat.