Selections for Social Distancing
A curated collection concerning real medicine, quack medicine, lost civilizations, social collapse, imprisonment, and protection for collectors and booksellers in need of quarantine reads
Selections for Social Distancing_FinalVersion
Abbott, Edith. Some American Pioneers in Social Welfare: Selected Documents… University of Chicago Press: Chicago. 1937. First Edition.
Original history and who’s who of early American Social Workers, written by social economist Dr. Edith Abbott,
Assistant Director of the Research Department of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and subsequently Dean of
the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Described by the World Economic Forum as
one of the “women who transformed economics”, in addition to her teaching roles at UChicago and the London School of
Economics, Abbott was involved in the creation of the US Social Security Act of 1935 for President Franklin Roosevelt’s
administration in the lead up to this publication.
Printed paper wraps discolored along top edges, sunned and fading. Corners bumped. Pencil mark on top fore corner. Pages clean. Very good condition.
$50
Abrams, Albert. The Blues (Splanchnic Neurasthenia) Causes and Cure. New York: E.B. Treat and Company, 1904. First Edition.
First edition of the first book by the pioneer of the radionics movement. Abrams would go on to invent long-distance diagnostic and treatment machines which he claimed could influence the body with photographs and blood samples, as
well as an acoustic form of medical dowsing using echoes from knocking on a subject’s abdomen to identify disease. This last method features heavily in Abrams’ treatment for “The Blues”, which involves targeted palpation of the liver, demonstrated below. 29 copies in OCLC as of March 2020.
12mo, Blue cloth bound boards with embossed edges and title embossed in white. Wear to edges and hinges. Spine darkened and binding shaken. Superficial tearing at hinges between back pastedown and endpaper. Pages darkened. Occasional pencil marks and printing ink bleed from text. Contains 27 photographic plates. Good Condition
$200
Anonymous. A Letter Written By God Himself and Let Down at Magdeburg. Pennsylvania: c. 19th Century. 1pp, 12″x9.5″ printed broadside.
Scarce 19th-century, English language Himmelsbrief, or, “Heaven Letter”, this German folk magic practice dates to as
early as the 1500s and was brought to the United States in the 18th Century. Supposed to have been written by God and
dropped from the sky or delivered by an Angel (this one, specifically states Magdeburg, Germany in 1783), Himmelsbriefs
were somewhere between early chain letters and homeowners’ insurance. Properly installed and venerated in the home, this
Himmelsbrief is said to protect against famine, pestilence, and war, which made Magdeburg Himmelsbriefs surge in popularity during the First World War as many German soldiers carried them into battle (Davies, A Supernatural War). This copy, unusual in English, was likely printed in the mid-1800s by an unknown printer in Pennsylvania. Although German copies using the same design have been located, per research as of March 2020, no duplicates have been found.
General soiling and darkening from age, losses along edges, creased from past folding. Partially detached along horizontal folds. Good condition.
$300
Anonymous. Prophetie de Sainte Odile et la guerre. C. 1940-41.
An uncommon example of a uniquely French wartime phenomenon. The first recorded reference to “The Prophecy of Saint Odile” is in a Parisian newspaper from 1914, almost 1200 years after it was supposedly written, but that did not stop it from spreading across the country during both the First and Second World Wars.
With descriptions of mountains covered with blood, the rise of the Anti-Christ, and Germany as the “most belligerent nation
on Earth” the prophecy’s message seemed tailor-made for the war-ravaged nation’s population. In hindsight, it likely was.Dying out between the wars, the prophecy returned in force during WWII despite efforts to stop its spread by Occupied
France’s Vichy government. These efforts might explain why handwritten examples continue to be found, like the two written by Gertrude Stein—now at Yale’s Beinecke Library—while she lived in France through the occupation.
In addition to directly referencing them in her 1943 satirical novel Mrs. Reynolds, she would later write in a letter to a friend, she “had to have the prophecies of Saint Odile” in order to have “faith” The evidence suggests their role was the same for this anonymous writer.
In addition to copying the prophecies, they appear to have applied them to a timeline for a possible future including a
German invasion of Glasgow by way of Norway, the United States entering the war nine months early, and the signing of a
peace treaty in January of 1942.
Six page handwritten French manuscript, over three sheets in two groupings, consisting of a two page record of the purported prophecy of Saint Odile and a one page speculative timeline, written in blue-ink on graph-lined paper. Some wear and spotting, two sheets containing prophecy connected by midcentury adhesive tape. Good condition and one of a kind.
$300
Brinkley, J.R. The Brinkley Operation. [Chicago?]: Sydney B. Flower, 1922. First Edition.
Scarce original Quack medicine promotional book by infamous conman, mad scientist, and country music radio pioneer, J.R.
Brinkley, promoting the benefits of his signature “goat gland” operation involving the implantation or injection of goat sex
organs into the human body for improved health, vigor, and fertility. 15 found in OCLC as of February 2020. 90pp + 10 ads.
Small 8vo, green cloth boards with title and author printed in gold on front and spine. Bookcloth darkened. Corners bumped and worn. Front corner bowed, small raised crease across spine hinge by title. Lower front corner soiled. Minor scuffing and wear to both sides. Spine bruised. Faux-marble pastedowns and endpapers. Pages clean. Complete with 10 photo plates and black and white surgical illustrations. Good condition.
$300
Bryant, William Cullen; Ed. Picturesque America; or, the Land We Live In. A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Forests, Waterfalls, Shores, Canons, Valleys, Cities, and other Picturesque Features of our Country. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1874. First Edition. Two volumes. Ex-library, former property of Connecticut’s infamous Hartford County Jail.
First edition of the beautiful classic, Picturesque America, “one of the great books of American Illustration” (Hamilton, 216).
This standard issue set appears to have gone straight from the publisher to Connecticut’s Hartford County Jail. Built more for form than function in 1878, the originally 200 cell facility began garnering negative attention as early as 1915 when the state legislature created a committee to investigate the poor conditions, including a lack of plumbing which was never
corrected. Another committee in 1938 referred to it as “medieval”. Finally closed after substantial protest in 1977, the Jail is remembered for housing 100 suspected socialists during the 1919-1920 Palmer Raids which lead to The Nation’s scathing coverage of the conditions of political prisoners in windowless, boiler-heated punishment rooms.
Two volumes. Large 4to, three quarter bound in the publisher’s standard cloth. Wear to edges, corners bumped. Leather losses along top and bottom spine and hinges. Volume 1’s back board’s leather has been scraped. Volume 2’s front board, bottom corner and top spine scraped with losses, back board faded nearly white along edges. Volume 1 back pastedowns and endpapers creased from past folding. Ex-library stamp, Hartford County Jail, present in both volumes on nearly all
pastedowns and endpapers. One of volume 2’s is located on the tissue protector before the title page. Contemporary pencil, erased, on Volume 1 title. Complete with 49 steel engraved plates and many other illustrations throughout both volumes.
Good condition.
$350
Cutolo, Salvatore. Bellevue Is My Home. Garden City: Doubleday, 1956. First Edition.
Scarce first edition of the biographical and historical memoir by the assistant director of Bellevue Hospital, providing a
history of America’s oldest public hospital and insights into mid-20th-century mental health practices and their surrounding
laws. Apparently, anyone can have their neighbor committed in New York, but thankfully the letter of the law was given over to professional discretion As Cutolo is quoted as saying in Bellevue Diary, “She’s not much to look at, but then; Bellevue is not a story of bricks or technology, is she? Bellevue is a tale of men and women!”
317pp, 8vo. Black cloth boards with title and author gilt on spine. Some wear to top and bottom spine. Spotting along top book block edge. Some yellowing to pages. Text clean. Dustjacket worn with losses to corners and scratching to front and back. Wear to top and bottom spine with 1″ tear at top left corner. A very good in a good condition.
$200
Flood, Dom Peter. Carroll, Malachi Gerard; Trans. Medical Experimentation On Man. Tralee, Republic of Ireland.: The Kerryman, Limited., 1955. First Edition.
Translated from the earlier French edition, this short work covers human experimentation historically, morally, medically,
and in modernity. Includes essays by François Albert-Buisson, Charles Dubost, Charles Vaille, and J. M. Auby, as well as an
early discussion of Nazi medical experiments.
[1]-5-146pp, 8vo. Orange cloth bound boards. Spine distressed. Shelf wear to top board fore edge. Bookblock yellowed. Minor discoloration and pencil mark to front pastedown and free endpaper. Stains to back pastedown and free endpaper from binding glue. Good condition.
$30
Flower, Sydney B. No. 5 The One-Best-Way Series of New Thought Books: The GoatGlad Transplantation As Originated and Successfully Performed by J.R. Brinkley, M.D., of Milford, Kansas, U.S.A., in Over 600 Operations Upon Men and Women.
Chicago: New Thought Book Department., 1921. First Edition.
A promotional book for “Doctor” J.R. Brinkley’s patented “Goat-Gland Transplantation”, this book is a relic of medical
malpractice. A proponent of the then-popular “Glandism” theory, Brinkley extolled the benefits of implanting and
injecting the testicles, ovaries, and other organs of goats into human subjects. Never having attended formal medical school, Brinkley began his work by paying local farmers to serve as guinea pigs. Through a combination of clever marketing— suggesting that the cure only worked on the intelligent— and playing off the fears of aging, impotence, and infertility Brinkley built an empire off his 750-dollar-a-treatment operations before expanding into radio and mail order
businesses.
His radio station arguably created modern Country Western music by expanding the then regional sound’s audience.
Brinkley sustained enormous popularity despite prosecution by the Federal Government. He ran twice for Governor of Kansas, losing on one bid despite having the most votes. Written by Dr. Sydney Blanshard Flower, New Thought editor, author of books on Hypnotism, and collaborator of William Walker Atkinson, the text contains much of Brinkley’s typical selfpromotion from the slogan “ALL ENERGY IS SEX ENERGY” to anecdotal “cures” for dementia, childlessness, and a lack of
vigor.
Front and back boards worn, scratching on printed image. Bumping to top boards and board fore-edges. Bottom of
spine cocked. Marbled pastedowns and endpapers, former booksellers sticker on front pastedown. 6 electrotyped
photographs of Dr. J.R. Brinkley, patients, operations, and Milford hospital included. Good condition.
$350
Freud, Anna. Das Ich Und Die Abwehrmechanismen. Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, 1936. First Edition. Association copy belonging to Freud’s student Edith Entenman with her annotations.
Called psychoanalyst Anna Freud’s “first major book” by the British Institute of Psychoanalysis, translated as, “The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense”, this work represents the daughter of the discipline’s founder stepping out from her father’s shadow. Lacking formal education but possessing a brilliant and unique intellect, this work—outlining her original thesis inspired by her own mental health issues a decade prior—details the ego’s strategies to protect itself from information and experiences it cannot handle. It became the first to earn the younger Freud serious consideration as a theorist as well as a technical analyst and would go on to become one of the foundational texts of ego psychology.
An unusual association copy owned by Freud’s American student Edith Entenman (1895-1974), who traveled from North Carolina to Vienna to study psychoanalysis with both Anna and Sigmund Freud in the 1930s. Cited in several of Anna Freud’s works, Entenman went on to excel in the emerging intersection of child psychology and education along with another alumnus from Anna Freud’s circle, Edith Buxbaum. The two were the first psychologists at New York City’s Little Red School House, and Entenman would assist in preparing Anna Freud’s War and Children (1943) for English translation. Entenman’s pencilownership signature dated 1936 can be found on the first free endpaper. The text is annotated in pencil throughout, in Entenman’s hand, with extensive underlining and margin notes in both English and German. Given these facts and the timeline provided by Anna Freud’s published writings and the available records of her childhood development research and psychoanalysis instruction, it’s possible these annotations were made during Entenman’s instruction and possible analysis by Freud. With 1933 ship passenger records placing Entenman in Trieste, Italy, a frequent port for accessing Vienna by sea, she very likely assisted in the research that culminated in this classic psychoanalytic text.
8vo, natural grey cloth boards with title and author in red on front and printed in brown. Corners bumped,
boards bowed and discolored toward edges. Spine bruised. Back spine hinge fragile with exterior exposed through book cloth. Bookblock, pastedowns, and endpapers spotted. Contemporary pencil ownership signature onfront free endpaper. Some pages dog-eared. Pencil annotations throughout. Fairly good condition.
$500
Furneaux, Rupert. The Medical Murderer. London: Elek Books, 1957.
First Edition of an unusual history on doctors who kill.
A highly entertaining overview of the crimes, cases, and motivations of various medical murderers and serial killers, specifically, the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers who switched from helping to harming their patients. A real true-crime classic, this book covers over 100 different incidents, providing background on notorious criminals Dr. Dmitrou Panchenko, Prof. John Webster, Dr. Bennett Clarke Hyde, and Nurse Dorothea Waddingham. In all, an excellent and enjoyable addition to any amateur criminologist’s reference collection.
159pp, 8vo, grey cloth boards. Shelf-cocked. Front board bowed. Spine bruised. Bookblock clean except for excess glue stain at top spine. Slight separation of binding visible in gutter between front pastedown and first free endpaper. Pages clean. Illustrated with black and white photographs throughout. Dustjacket shows some wear at corners and edges. Small tear(s) with chip loss on lower fore corner and top spine. Discoloration to back. Good condition on both counts.
$30
Hartelius, T.J. Swedish Movements or Medical Gymnastics. Battle Creek, Michigan: Modern Medicine Publishing Co., 1896.
First American Edition of the pioneering exercise manual J.H. Kellogg published in coordination with his medical work at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Long before yoga or Pilates became popular, the Swedish physician Hartelius wrote this book prescribing different movements and stretches for the betterment of Sweden’s youth and for the treatment of various ailments. In addition to step by step instructions and illustrations for all of the exercises described, Hartelius’ unspoken goal was to replicate Germany’s military successes, which Hartelius connected to their use of physical education. By the time Kellogg published the translation of this medical book, it’s unclear if he had the same vision in mind for Americans.
8vo, grey cloth boards with title and author gilt on spine. Wear to edges, corners bumped, minor soiling to spine, possible past label stain to top spine edge. Marbled bookblock edges darkened. Former owners’ signature on front free pastedown. Pages clean. Includes 28 black and white plates. Very good condition.
$100
Horsford, Eben Norton. The Discovery of the Ancient City of Norumbega A Communication To The President and Council of the American Geographical Society At Their Special Session In Watertown. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin, 1890. First Edition, Thus. Presentation copy, inscribed to French historian Eugene Beauvois. Includes original fold-out map of “Vinland of the Northmen” outlining the geography of the legendary Norumbega, a Viking city in ancient America.
An unusual, scarce work of independent and incorrect history, purporting to prove the existence of Viking settlements in North America.
Written by American researcher Eben Norton Horsford who believed he had discovered the lost city of “Norumbega” in Watertown, Mass. and had a tower erected there to mark the spot which still stands to this day.
Wider release of an earlier, unsold, private printing of 250 copies in 1889. Inscribed in pen by Horsford to Eugene Beauvois, French historian and author of his own 1880 work on Norumbega, dated December 31, 1889.
55pp, Folio, green leather wood-backed boards. Corners and spine bumped, rubbing to boards, wear to bottom spine. Deckled edges aged. Occasional foxing. Very good condition.
$300
Jaeger, Gustav. Selections from Essays On Health Culture and The Sanitary Woolen
System. New York: Dr Jaeger’s Sanitary Woolen System Co, 1891. First American Edition of an original medical publication by the founder of Jaeger Clothing.
First American edition of treatise promoting the use of woolen undergarments for health by Dr. Gustav Jaeger, published by Dr. Jaeger’s Sanitary Woolen System Company, which survives today as the UK based Jaeger clothing. Now known for creating outfits worn by the Royal Family, Jaeger first rose to fame with his promotion of natural fiber-based clothing that used wool for wicking. The company’s underwear was extremely popular and even accompanied Ernest Shackleton to the South Pole.
An unusual presentation copy, this appears to have been a gift from Weinstock, Lubin & Co, a Sacramento Department Store, perhaps in connection with a purchase of Jaeger woolen undergarments. Includes two plates of wool fiber diagrams.
216pp, small 8vo, green embossed cloth boards. Corners bumped and worn. Spine bruised. Small stain to lower
front board. Nick to backboard edge. Bookblock darkened. Large stain on front pastedown and free endpapers. Presentation inscription on front free endpaper reads, “Compliments of Weinstock, Lubin & Co”. Good condition.
$150
Lacroix-a-L’Henri, Rene. Theories et Procedes Radiesthesiques. Paris: Henri Dangles, 1937. First edition of an early book on Radiesthesia in French.
Early French language explanation and exploration of radionics and radiesthesia including a fascinating idiosyncratic fusion of astrology, pendulums, radio waves, and the bagua hexagrams of the Chinese I-Ching divination system as many as 30 years before such combinations became fashionable.
Although I’m not sure if the phenomenon has ever been seriously studied, it is interesting to note that while radionics remains on the fringe of the fringe in the counter culture of the United States, “radiesthesiques” or radiesthesia is more popular than ever in France. (Search eBay.fr for many amusing results).
Interestingly, the birth chart of the author is featured in the fabulous “Lunar Astrology”.
8vo. pp194 + p3 ads. Printed paper wraps with list of other titles offered by the publisher on back. Wraps browned with wrinkling and wear to edges. Corners bumped, spine cracked with two small superficial losses from flaking. Old bookseller’s inventory number in red ink on first free endpaper. Pages clean though darkened at edges. Illustrated throughout. Good condition.
$50
Maryland Civil Defense Agency. Public Action Plan For Use Under Emergency Conditions: A Guide To Family Survival. Baltimore. Maryland Civil Defense Agency. C. 1960-63. Scarce original Civil Defense pamphlet, detailing Cold War-era nuclear evacuation plans for the Baltimore metro area.
Published by the state bureau of the Civil Defense Agency, this pamphlet was meant to keep citizens informed and save lives if necessary. It unfolds into full-size map demonstrating the safest routes out of Baltimore area in the event of an atomic blast and necessary nuclear evacuation due to fall out.
I can’t even imagine this being you and your family’s last line of defense in the face of all-out nuclear annihilation, but I also can’t imagine “agreeing” to a policy of mutually assured destruction.
No past sale records found and OCLC lists no copies as of April 2020.
Folding pamphlet with full-size map and two smaller maps describing atomic raid evacuation plan and illustrating evacuation routes from the Baltimore area. Exterior folds browned. Occasional dark drop stains. Some creases and wrinkling. 8 folds from past mailing and pamphlet use. Wear creates losses on one fold. One brown wear stain. Good condition.
$65
Noyes, John Humphrey. Male Continence. Office of the American Socialist. Oneida, NY. 1877. Second edition.
An update to Oneida Community Founder John Humphrey Noyes’ 1872 treatise on male sexual control, intended to proselytize the Perfectionist belief in controlled reproduction and spiritual purification via the avoidance of the male orgasm.
32pp. Pale green wrappers clean yet slightly faded. Mild signs of past bending to spine and top edge leaving visible outline of binding stitches. Back wrapper shows discoloration toward its top. Text block and pages slightly yellowed. Good condition.
$145
Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The Family Fallout Shelter. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1961. Second Edition.
1961 reprint of the official government sponsored instructions for protecting your family from nuclear fallout. Illustrated throughout with blueprints of various cinderblock and concrete structures to build in your backyard. Great for those with children out of school.
32pp 4vo staple bound pamphlet with pictorial wrappers. Some small stains on front and back wraps, creasing along spine,
wear to top and bottom edges, and creasing to front lower corner. Fully illustrated interior clean apart from general forward curl. Good condition.
$40
Pennewill, Walton. Insanity As A Defence. [?]. [Philadelphia?]. c. 1896. Presumed First Edition. Bookplate belonging to Monsignor Joseph M. Gleason.
Scarce original legal treatise by Pennsylvania State Representative Walton Pennewill (1861 – 1946), outlining the parameters for an insanity “defence” and with whom the burden of proof lies, cited as the basis of case law in these matters throughout
the early 20th century. Pennewill, who would resign in 1896, was noted for his involvement in the passage of the Medical Examiner’s Bill in 1892, lobbying on behalf of the Homeopathic Medicine Society of Pennsylvania to ensure the creation of a
“three board” solution, providing “homeopathic, allopathic, and eclectic” medical schools equal status in the training and licensing of doctors in state.
Ex-libris of Monsignor Joseph M. Gleason (1869-1947), California priest, historian, and book collector, with his well-illustrated bookplate (collected by the University of Auckland, the University of Delaware, and the University of Illinois) on front pastedown.
Original pamphlet preserved in contemporary marbled, quarter-bound boards, green leather spine gilt with author and title. Corners bumped and worn with fraying. Front free endpaper detached at base. Occasional pencil annotations. Good condition.
$100
Pilgrim, Maurice. Mechanical Vibratory Stimulation Its Theory and Application In the Treatment of Disease. New York: Metropolitan Publishing Co., 1903. First Edition.
Written by stenographer turned Vice-President of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, Professor of Psychiatry in the New York School of Physical Therapeutics, Editor of the Department of Psychiatry in the Journal of Advanced Therapeutics, this book outlines the supposed effects and potential curative properties of electricity and x-rays on the circulatory, lymphatic, and nervous systems.
Carolyn Thomas de la Pena in “The Body Electric” speculates Pilgrim’s ideas (and perhaps even some of these diagrams) were influenced by Chinese medicine.
Illustrated throughout. [1]-5-152 + 2pp index. Green boards, shelf wear to top and bottom edges, scuffing at fore-edges and top and bottom spine. Small specks of wear along top of front board. Small brown stain on lower back pastedown and free endpaper. Back pastedown slightly wrinkled at hinge from binding. Good condition. Contains 8 medical plates of human lymphatic and neurological systems.
$150
Listen, Little Man: A Document from the Archives of the Orgone Institute by Wilhelm Reich. Illustrated by William Steig. Orgone Institute Press. New York. 1948.
Scarce first edition of Wilhelm Reich ’s comedic classic of anti-authoritarian thought, Listen Little Man was a collaboration with Reich’s student and New Yorker cartoonist William Steig, pairing his artwork and Reich’s philosophy to comment on society, fascism, and male fragility.
Reich, perhaps the most colorful of the students of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, has mostly been relegated to the Quack bin of history for his belief in the universal life energy, orgone, and his claims about its impact on cancer. Reich was also among the first to apply psychoanalytic principles of libido to society at large, offering explanations for the rise of Fascism in Europe. Exiled from Germany for publishing “The Mass Psychology of Fascism”, he moved to the United States where he enjoyed success until his 1955 arrest for continuing to manufacture and use orgone accumulator devices.
In 1956, the majority of Reich’s work— 6 tons of papers and books— were gathered and burned by New York State authorities in one of the biggest acts of American censorship, making true first editions of his work such as this one even harder to find. Reich died in prison in 1957.
First edition. 8vo. Tan cloth bound boards with title and small cartoon printed in red on front. Title and publisher printed it read on spine. Publisher and publisher’s logo printed on back board. Light discoloration to top edge of front and back boards near spine. Back fore corners bumped. Bookblock slightly discolored. Pastedown and pages darkening. Small black smudge along bottom of first free endpaper. Occasional pencil underlines and stars. Illustrated throughout by William Steig. Very good condition. Red dustjacket with title, cartoon, and publishing information printed in tan on front side. Title and publisher repeat on spine, and publisher with logo printed on back side. Front wrapper detached at spine joint with losses along top edge around spine and smaller loss to lower edge. Small losses along spine and top edge on back wrapper, pigment loss along hinge and front and back flap edges. Narrow scrape with pigment loss running straight across back wrapper for 3”. Yellowing and darkening to interior, with dark discoloration along top edges of flaps. Both top fore corners chipped. Fair Condition.
$400
Report of the Committee on Taxation and Retrenchment Of The Senate Of The State Of New York In The Matter of the Memorial of the Morningside Park Association In Reference to The Bloomingdale Asylum For The Insane. Troy Press Company. 1888.
Scarce copy of New York State Senate’s findings in the case of the Morningside Park Association versus the Bloomingdale
Asylum, a chapter in the legal battle—partially led by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of
Central Park—that removed the unsightly asylum from the land now occupied by Columbia University, Barnard College, and
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Association copy with bookplate calling it a gift of assemblyman and committee member John C. Adams.
One copy in OCLC as of July 2021.
8vo, 315pp, Red cloth boards with title gilt on spine. White stains on front board, slight wear and fraying to top fore edge corner. Gilt title stained red on spine, bottom fore joint corner bumped. Some small dents to back board, corners likewise bumped. Book block darkened with small scrape along fore edge. Presentation plate on top fore corner of front pastedown reads “Courtesy of John C. Adams Member of the Assembly”, lower fore corner clipped. Pages darkened with the occasional small stain but otherwise clean. Good condition.
$200
Sarner, Harvey. Dental Jurisprudence. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunder Company. 1963. First edition of an unusual dental law book.
An odd reference work, this book consists of the collected essentials of dental law, covering common questions and crazy scenarios in dentistry.
Contents include rulings and explanations for details you may never have considered such as who really owns your X-Rays; how patient consent works when under anesthesia; what kinds of advice it’s legal to give; and “How much pain is too much for the Hippocratic Oath?”
Depending on your perspective, this is a book that could either make for entertaining reading or, be an excellent new addition to your professional reference library (I might even argue for both).
Whether studying for dental board exams or several decades into your practice, it can’t hurt to keep an eye on ethics. Or, you know, at the very least, criminal and fiscal liability.
Patterned cloth boards with title and author gilt stamped in blue, small black smudge to top spine. Pages clean. Very good condition.
$50
Spence , Lewis. Atlantis in America. New York: Brentano’s, 1925. First American Edition, 1st Printing.
A good copy of the first American edition of Lewis Spence’s second book on Atlantis.
James Lewis Spence (1875-1955), the Scottish historian, folklorist, occult scholar and Presider of the Ancient Druid Order began his career contemplating and popularizing Mayan and Aztec mythology before becoming obsessed with the lost continent of Atlantis among many other fringe subjects. Although he intended to take back the discussion of Atlantis from the Theosophists and other contemporary occult groups for serious researchers, his works’ popular appeal and readability translated to neither academic rigor nor acceptance. This book is particularly illustrative of Spence’s approach, analyzing New World art and mythology against the accounts of Plato and others to argue for the existence of a lost civilization matching Atlantis’ description on an island continent between the Americas and Africa, known to ancient mesoamericans.
8vo, green cloth boards, corners and spine bumped and worn. Red staining to front and back boards from past liquid exposure, continuing on borders of pastedowns and endpapers. Bookblock spotted, pages aged. Good condition.
$50
Spence, Lewis. The Problem of Atlantis. London: William Rider & Son, 1925. Second Edition.
Early in his career, Lewis Spence, the Scottish historian, folklorist, and occult scholar, moved from popularizing Mayan and Aztec mythology to using it to argue for the existence of a lost continent.
“The Problem of Atlantis”, Spence’s first serious treatment on the subject, moves from the story’s first appearance in Plato into a sweeping survey of world mythology and ancient art. Highlighting the existence of pyramids in both Egypt and the New World, Spence compares Maya, Aztec, and Inca art and stonework to Egyptian examples, as well as the presence of overlapping flora, fauna, and geological formations between the continents. One of the most compelling pieces of Spence’s argument is his suggestion that Atlantis is one and the same with the the island or lakeside city “Atzlan“, the mythical origin place of the Aztec which they fled after a warning from their gods. This possible solution to the problem would form the basis for his next book Atlantis In America, published by Lewis Spence not long afterwards.
8vo, v-xv + 232 pp, red cloth boards. Shelf cocked. Spine and corners bumped, slight soiling to back board. Book block darkened. Contemporary ownership signature on front free endpaper. Small stain affecting lower margin of frontis, title page, and first two pages of Spence’s introduction. Occasional foxing, pp 24-25 stained by newspaper bookmark. Good condition.
$60
Thompson, C.J.S. [Charles]. The Quacks of Old London. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1929. First American Edition.
First American edition of toxicologist, pharmacist, curator, and Royal Society of Medicine member Dr. Charles Thompson’s book on the history of London Quackery.
“England was the quack’s Eldorado; and they flocked to London from all parts of Europe ready to cure every imaginable ill.” Covers astrologers, alchemists, “plague quacks”, and the power of 17-18th century advertising.
Illustrated throughout, including reproductions of period ads. No dustjacket. Corners bumped and worn. Shelf wear to board edges and spine. Light bubbling to top of front board bookcloth. Contemporary pen ownership signature on front pastedown. Good condition.
$50
Troward, Thomas. The Years 1914 to 1923 In Bible Prophecy Scripture Prediction of The Present War. New York: Keslin Press. 1915. An original WWI-era prophetic publication.
Thomas Troward (1847-1916), famous for his Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science (called “the ablest statement of philosophy I have met” by William James), was a British colonial judge in India who turned his attention to esotericism in retirement. An early New Thought author, Troward’s pre-WWI work went on to inspire Alcoholics Anonymous and The Secret, and was especially admired by his student Genevieve Behrend who went on to found the “School of the Builders”, teaching Troward’s Mental Science, before writing this work on bible prophecy.
Uncharacteristically for Troward, this short manifesto on bible prophecy is a perfect example of early religious fearmongering during WWI. In 1914-1915 alone texts like The Great War—In the Divine Light of Prophecy: Is it Armageddon? and Is it Armageddon? Or Britain in Prophecy? were quick to tell readers that “The War to End All Wars” was nothing less than the biblical apocalypse. Unlike other authors, however, Troward is clear to say that the war signaled not the end of the planet or the human race but, “the End of the Age, that is the termination of the present order of things and the introduction of that New Order to which the whole of Scripture leads up.”
12mo. Fair condition. Wrinkles and folding along front and back wrapper edges as well as two small tears midway down. Superficial tears to top and bottom spine. String binding solid. Former owners signature in pen on cover as well as title page, there accompanied by another in pencil. Inner cover bears small “Goodyear Book Concerns” sticker from period bookseller. Minor grease mark on last two pages.
$120
Van Dyke, J.E. The Investor’s Pocket Manual. Current Statistics, Records, High and Low Prices of Securities of Railroad, Industrial, Public Utility, Mining and Oil Companies. Also, Grain, Cotton, Coffee, and Provisions. January, 1928. New York: Financial Press of New York, 1928. First Edition.
Original 1928 investment manual printed for employees of the now-defunct Kidder, Peabody, & Co, providing a full snapshot of the US economy on the verge of the Great Depression. Although widely printed and distributed in their time, most of these pocket manuals have not survived and were not collected by private individuals or archival institutions.
336pp, small 8vo, staple bound with printed wraps. Corners bumped. Wear to edges. Creases at corners on front wrap. Crinkling near spine, with indentations from binding staples visible on both front and back. Spine rough from glue and creasing from past reading. Wear along back bottom spine with minor losses. Back lower corner creased. General signs of past wear on back wrap. Top corner of pages 1-3 damaged, with corner missing entirely on pg 1, and pitted with holes on pp 2-3. Pages clean. Very good condition.
$400
Wagner, Felix. A Handbook of Chiropody Giving The Causes And Treatments Of Corns, Callosities, Bunions, Chilblains, and The Diseases of the Toe-Nails with Advice as to Taking Care of the Feet. London: Osborne, Garret, and Co., 1903. First Edition.
Early podiatry book, published just eight years after the founding of the first society of podiatrists, called chiropodists until 1993 in the United Kingdom. Written by Felix Wagner (1863-1913), German-born early chiropodist who evangelized the practice in repeated appearances in the London Evening News at the time of this book’s publication.
The text is well illustrated throughout with nine full-page plates of corns, bunions, and other foot ailments. In all, this early podiatry book is as disgusting as it is delightful.
8vo. Shelf cocked, ink stains to spine and backboard. Spine faded. Slight staining to top of front board. Top and bottom spine scuffed. Hinge split visible at base of front pastedown and endpapers. Black paper end papers. Some pages show browning. Contains 9 black and white plates of skin diseases of the feet. Good condition.
$35
Williams, Louis. Hoboes Rich and Poor. Seattle: [Unstated], 1926. First Edition.
Scarce first edition work of philosophical fiction, ambiguously and incorrectly described in the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture’s Hobo Bibliography as “(a collection of poems?)”. Seemingly written to furnish feelings of equality and the brotherhood of mankind, this unusual semi-Universalist tract takes the form of a likely invented conversation between narrator “Charley Grant” and “hobo philosopher” “Loveheart Gibson” on the nature of life, civilization, and God. Interestingly, this book was published prior to the Great Depression. Although hoboes had existed since Civil War veterans began train hopping in the 1860s, the subculture was far less visible and well-known prior to the economic hardship dramatically increasing the number of Americans living as tramps, hoboes, and other impoverished migrants in the 1930s.
8 copies listed in OCLC as of March 2020.
8vo, blue leatherette boards. Bottom spine bumped. Front pastedown and first free endpaper browned. Pages clean apart from four pin sized stains on title and opposing end paper. Illustrated throughout. Very good condition.
$200