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The Anatomy of Melancholy. What it is, with all the kinds causes, symptomes, prognostickes, & severall cures of it. In three Partitions, with their severall Sections, members, & subsections, Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically, opened and cut up. With a Satyricall Preface, Conducing to the following Discourse -
Robert Burton [Democritus Junior]
1676 - Printed For Peter Parker, London - The Eighth Edition, Corrected and Augmented by the Author
‘Spanning over 500,000 words, Burton’s ‘Anatomy of Melancholy’ serves as the world's first comprehensive psychological and psychiatric encyclopaedia. Though framed around the historical concept of "melancholia" (which then encompassed clinical depression, delusions, and mania), it stands as a monumental study of human unreason and mental affliction.’ [Royal College of Surgeons]
‘Citing nearly 500 medical authors, and also a literary tour de force’. [Garrison & Morton]
The Anatomy of Melancholy was published in 1621 and Burton continued to make revisions, corrections, and augmentations to each edition published during his lifetime, this, the last 17th century edition to be published, is taken from the 1651 printing, which was the first posthumous edition and included authorial corrections delivered by Burton to the editor H.C. (likely Henry Cripps) before Burton's death in 1640.
Importantly it include the magnificent engraved title page by Christoffel Le Bron, with illustrations representing the effects of Melancholy from Superstition, Solitude, Love and Hypochondriasis.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1676 - Printed For Peter Parker, London - The Eighth Edition, Corrected and Augmented by the Author
‘Spanning over 500,000 words, Burton’s ‘Anatomy of Melancholy’ serves as the world's first comprehensive psychological and psychiatric encyclopaedia. Though framed around the historical concept of "melancholia" (which then encompassed clinical depression, delusions, and mania), it stands as a monumental study of human unreason and mental affliction.’ [Royal College of Surgeons]‘Citing nearly 500 medical authors, and also a literary tour de force’. [Garrison & Morton]
The Anatomy of Melancholy was published in 1621 and Burton continued to make revisions, corrections, and augmentations to each edition published during his lifetime, this, the last 17th century edition to be published, is taken from the 1651 printing, which was the first posthumous edition and included authorial corrections delivered by Burton to the editor H.C. (likely Henry Cripps) before Burton's death in 1640.
Importantly it include the magnificent engraved title page by Christoffel Le Bron, with illustrations representing the effects of Melancholy from Superstition, Solitude, Love and Hypochondriasis.
More details
Price HK$ 35,000
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater -
Thomas De Quincey
1822 - J. Moyes for Taylor and Hessey, London - First Edition
First edition of ‘the most famous account of drug addiction in English literature’ (Norman), the earliest example of ‘addiction literature’ in the English language, and one of the most controversial memoirs ever written, De Quincey illuminates the world of opioid usage in medical, recreational, and criminal capacities. Written when the author was only thirty six, he examines his own experiences of the drug alongside its wider history, from opium dens buried in the heart of London to references of ‘poppy tears’ found within Homer, Virgil, Chaucer, and Shakespeare.
In the publisher’s original boards, page edges untrimmed, with half-title and the two pages of advertisements, and housed in an exquisite custom lather and velvet clamshell case.
‘Here was the secret of happiness, about which philosophers had disputed for so many ages, at once discovered; happiness might now be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat-pocket; portable ecstasies might be had corked up in a pint-bottle; and peace of mind could be sent down by the mail.’
De Quincey experienced an amazingly tragic life filled with death, loneliness, and the full panoply of suffering, but unlike many others, it ultimately led him to great empathy.
‘For a philosopher should not see with the eyes of the poor limitary creature calling himself a man of the world, and filled with narrow and self-regarding prejudices of birth and education, but should look upon himself as a catholic creature, and as standing in equal relation to high and low, to educated and uneducated, to the guilty and the innocent.’
His iconic text would go on to influence the likes of Poe, Dickens, and the Beat Generation.
‘…he transformed our perception of drugs. De Quincey invented recreational drug-taking, not because he was the first to swallow opiates for non-medical reasons(he was hardly that), but because he was the first to commemorate his drug experience in a compelling narrative that was consciously aimed at — and consumed by — a broad commercial audience. Further, in knitting together intellectualism, unconventionality, drugs, and the city, De Quincey mapped in the counter-cultural figure of the bohemian. He was also the first flaneur, high and anonymous, graceful and detached, strolling through crowded urban sprawls trying to decipher the spectacles, faces, and memories that reside there. Most strikingly, as the self-proclaimed “Pope” of “the true church on the subject of opium,” he initiated the tradition of the literature of intoxication with his portrait of the addict as a young man. De Quincey is the first modern artist, at once prophet and exile, riven by a drug that both inspired and eviscerated him.’(Robert Morrison)
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Price HK$ 50,000
1822 - J. Moyes for Taylor and Hessey, London - First Edition
First edition of ‘the most famous account of drug addiction in English literature’ (Norman), the earliest example of ‘addiction literature’ in the English language, and one of the most controversial memoirs ever written, De Quincey illuminates the world of opioid usage in medical, recreational, and criminal capacities. Written when the author was only thirty six, he examines his own experiences of the drug alongside its wider history, from opium dens buried in the heart of London to references of ‘poppy tears’ found within Homer, Virgil, Chaucer, and Shakespeare.In the publisher’s original boards, page edges untrimmed, with half-title and the two pages of advertisements, and housed in an exquisite custom lather and velvet clamshell case.
‘Here was the secret of happiness, about which philosophers had disputed for so many ages, at once discovered; happiness might now be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat-pocket; portable ecstasies might be had corked up in a pint-bottle; and peace of mind could be sent down by the mail.’
De Quincey experienced an amazingly tragic life filled with death, loneliness, and the full panoply of suffering, but unlike many others, it ultimately led him to great empathy.
‘For a philosopher should not see with the eyes of the poor limitary creature calling himself a man of the world, and filled with narrow and self-regarding prejudices of birth and education, but should look upon himself as a catholic creature, and as standing in equal relation to high and low, to educated and uneducated, to the guilty and the innocent.’
His iconic text would go on to influence the likes of Poe, Dickens, and the Beat Generation.
‘…he transformed our perception of drugs. De Quincey invented recreational drug-taking, not because he was the first to swallow opiates for non-medical reasons(he was hardly that), but because he was the first to commemorate his drug experience in a compelling narrative that was consciously aimed at — and consumed by — a broad commercial audience. Further, in knitting together intellectualism, unconventionality, drugs, and the city, De Quincey mapped in the counter-cultural figure of the bohemian. He was also the first flaneur, high and anonymous, graceful and detached, strolling through crowded urban sprawls trying to decipher the spectacles, faces, and memories that reside there. Most strikingly, as the self-proclaimed “Pope” of “the true church on the subject of opium,” he initiated the tradition of the literature of intoxication with his portrait of the addict as a young man. De Quincey is the first modern artist, at once prophet and exile, riven by a drug that both inspired and eviscerated him.’(Robert Morrison)
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Price HK$ 50,000
The Interpretation of Dreams -
Professor Sigmund Freud, A. A. Brill (translator)
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition in English, First State
A handsome example of the first edition in English.
‘Unquestionably Freud’s greatest single work’ - Printing and The Mind of Man.
It is in the main through this Brill translation of the German 3rd Edition that the English speaking world was introduced to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, the erotic nature of dreams and the influence of the unconscious on the conscious state (later “the unconscious” became the “subconscious”, as a more nuanced way of describing the things we constantly do and feel that we are unaware of doing or feeling).
More details
Price HK$ 40,000
1913 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition in English, First State
A handsome example of the first edition in English.‘Unquestionably Freud’s greatest single work’ - Printing and The Mind of Man.
It is in the main through this Brill translation of the German 3rd Edition that the English speaking world was introduced to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, the erotic nature of dreams and the influence of the unconscious on the conscious state (later “the unconscious” became the “subconscious”, as a more nuanced way of describing the things we constantly do and feel that we are unaware of doing or feeling).
More details
Price HK$ 40,000
The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes -
John Gerarde, Thomas Johnson
1633 - Printed by: Adam Islip, London - Second Edition, Enlarged and Amended
A superb and rare complete folio of Gerarde’s monumental work on the history of plants, the most circulated and influential botanical work of the 17th century. This is the first edition to be enlarged by Thomas Johnson.
Describing over 2,800 of plants, and profusely illustrated with engraved title page by John Payne and a new set of 2,766 woodblock illustrations by Plantin, which were commissioned for this new edition. Thomas Johnson added several hundred new plants to this enlarged and amended edition which he significantly revised and edited, correcting many errors in the original text by Gerarde of whom he notes that ‘Our author here (as in many other places) knit knots somewhat intricate to loose.’ [1114]. Passages which Johnson substantially emended were marked with a dagger, and completely new ones with a double cross. Contributions by his friends John Parkinson, George Bowles, John Goodyear, and others are acknowledged by name. Many of the additions are based on Johnson’s own journeys. Another excellent addition by Johnson to Gerarde is a survey of the history of botany, the first such in English.
See page 1617 for two tups of ginger, which Johnson calls ‘True China’ and ‘Bastard China’ with details of how the Portuguese brought it back to Europe.
More details
Price HK$ 40,000
1633 - Printed by: Adam Islip, London - Second Edition, Enlarged and Amended
A superb and rare complete folio of Gerarde’s monumental work on the history of plants, the most circulated and influential botanical work of the 17th century. This is the first edition to be enlarged by Thomas Johnson.Describing over 2,800 of plants, and profusely illustrated with engraved title page by John Payne and a new set of 2,766 woodblock illustrations by Plantin, which were commissioned for this new edition. Thomas Johnson added several hundred new plants to this enlarged and amended edition which he significantly revised and edited, correcting many errors in the original text by Gerarde of whom he notes that ‘Our author here (as in many other places) knit knots somewhat intricate to loose.’ [1114]. Passages which Johnson substantially emended were marked with a dagger, and completely new ones with a double cross. Contributions by his friends John Parkinson, George Bowles, John Goodyear, and others are acknowledged by name. Many of the additions are based on Johnson’s own journeys. Another excellent addition by Johnson to Gerarde is a survey of the history of botany, the first such in English.
See page 1617 for two tups of ginger, which Johnson calls ‘True China’ and ‘Bastard China’ with details of how the Portuguese brought it back to Europe.
More details
Price HK$ 40,000
Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical -
Henry Gray F.R.S., Henry Vandyke Carter M.D. (illustrator)
1859 - Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia - First American Edition
A superb copy, in the original publisher’s sheep binding and endpapers, the original black spine label, binding without restoration or rebind, text and illustrations clean, no attempts to colour the illustrations, no handwriting. Rare as such.
Gray’s Anatomy, the book that brought the beauty of the human form to the masses, has remained a landmark text in medical study since its first appearance in print. The first edition, published in England in 1858, was found to have a good many errors, most of which were corrected in this, the first American edition. The corrections, improvements and new index are outlined in the publisher’s note at the beginning of the work.
Illustrated with 363 wood-engraved illustrations by Gray’s colleague and assistant, Henry Vandyke Carter.
‘The success of the book was not due to an absence of rivals. There were already several texts on anatomy... Gray's Anatomy, however, eclipsed all others, partly for its meticulous detail, partly for its emphasis on surgical anatomy, but most of all perhaps for the excellence of the illustrations, based on drawings by H. V. Carter [1831-97], who assisted Gray with the dissections, and engraved by Messrs Butterworth and Heath with remarkable skill. The design of the book, and the skill with which the illustrations were interpolated in the text, could hardly have been improved. For a man in his early thirties it was a remarkable achievement’ [ODNB].
More details
Price HK$ 110,000
1859 - Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia - First American Edition
A superb copy, in the original publisher’s sheep binding and endpapers, the original black spine label, binding without restoration or rebind, text and illustrations clean, no attempts to colour the illustrations, no handwriting. Rare as such.Gray’s Anatomy, the book that brought the beauty of the human form to the masses, has remained a landmark text in medical study since its first appearance in print. The first edition, published in England in 1858, was found to have a good many errors, most of which were corrected in this, the first American edition. The corrections, improvements and new index are outlined in the publisher’s note at the beginning of the work.
Illustrated with 363 wood-engraved illustrations by Gray’s colleague and assistant, Henry Vandyke Carter.
‘The success of the book was not due to an absence of rivals. There were already several texts on anatomy... Gray's Anatomy, however, eclipsed all others, partly for its meticulous detail, partly for its emphasis on surgical anatomy, but most of all perhaps for the excellence of the illustrations, based on drawings by H. V. Carter [1831-97], who assisted Gray with the dissections, and engraved by Messrs Butterworth and Heath with remarkable skill. The design of the book, and the skill with which the illustrations were interpolated in the text, could hardly have been improved. For a man in his early thirties it was a remarkable achievement’ [ODNB].
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Price HK$ 110,000
Healths Improvement: or, Rules Comprising and Discovering The Mature, Method, and Manner of Preparing all sorts of Food Used in this Nation. -
Thomas Muffett (Moffett), Christopher Bennet
1655 - Printed by Tho: Newcomb for Samuel Thornton, at the sign of the white Horse in Pauls Churchyard - First Edition
‘Written by that ever Famous Thomas Muffett, Doctor in Physick: Corrected and Enlarged by Christopher Bennet, Doctor in Physick, and Fellow of the Colledg of Physitians in London.’
Scarce first edition of this posthumous work, which André Simon said was “probably compiled about 1595. Some chapter headings will give an idea of the scope of this work, which is composed throughout in a gossipy and very readable style. ‘What Diet is’. ‘How it is to be chosen’. ‘Of Meats’. ‘Of the flesh of tame beasts’. ‘Of the flesh of wild fowl’ . . .”
From the collection of noted bibliophile and perfectionist, Brent Gration-Maxfield, with his neat pencil annotation to the front.
See page 154, where Muffett describes the flying fish he was shown by his friend Sir Francis Drake.
The work includes the important observation, made for the first time, that eating liver is beneficial to certain eye diseases. It also contains the first list of British wildfowl, and recognition of their migratory habits.
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Price HK$ 35,000
1655 - Printed by Tho: Newcomb for Samuel Thornton, at the sign of the white Horse in Pauls Churchyard - First Edition
‘Written by that ever Famous Thomas Muffett, Doctor in Physick: Corrected and Enlarged by Christopher Bennet, Doctor in Physick, and Fellow of the Colledg of Physitians in London.’Scarce first edition of this posthumous work, which André Simon said was “probably compiled about 1595. Some chapter headings will give an idea of the scope of this work, which is composed throughout in a gossipy and very readable style. ‘What Diet is’. ‘How it is to be chosen’. ‘Of Meats’. ‘Of the flesh of tame beasts’. ‘Of the flesh of wild fowl’ . . .”
From the collection of noted bibliophile and perfectionist, Brent Gration-Maxfield, with his neat pencil annotation to the front.
See page 154, where Muffett describes the flying fish he was shown by his friend Sir Francis Drake.
The work includes the important observation, made for the first time, that eating liver is beneficial to certain eye diseases. It also contains the first list of British wildfowl, and recognition of their migratory habits.
More details
Price HK$ 35,000