[1838.]. 8vo, pp. [iv], 102; with four large folding lithograph plates; lightly foxed and browned throughout due to paper quality, with some further occasional minor soiling, minor ink staining on verso of first plate, with other three plates a little creased and with evidence of previous folds; bound in contemporary marbled boards, neatly rebacked and recornered in calf, spine ruled and lettered in ink, with some minor abrasions to surfaces; with presentation inscription from the author to Mr. Fildes at the tail of the dedication leaf; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this detailed work, based very much on first hand experience, on the design and management of boilers, and the work of the Manchester engineer Robert Armstrong. The work bears testament, therefore, to the many technical and mechanical advances which emanated from the town, thanks to the rapid growth of the cotton industry which had transformed Manchester from being a small market town with a popular of 10,000 at the turn of the century, to becoming Britain’s second city by the 1840s, and home to nearly 400,000.
Indeed Armstrong dedicates his work to the ‘Cotton Manufacturers and other Proprietors of Steam engines, in Manchester and its vicinity, who have afforded him many opportunities of obtaining a variety of information on practical details’. This first edition is printed on rather cheap paper, the four large folding plates containing somewhat crude illustrations done reproduced from his original drawings in lithograph, a fact which Armstrong rather ruefully acknowledges in his concluding remarks, his publisher clearly having had little faith in its sale and suggesting only a limited initial print run ‘to meet a merely local sale’. Whilst he prides himself upon his boiler-making workmanship, his limited budget had not allowed him to use skilled engravers and printers, when it came to his bookmaking. An interesting commentary, perhaps, upon how lithography was considered to be a less skilled profession.
The poor design and management of boilers was frequently the Achilles heel of the steam engine, preventing their efficient and economic running. Armstrong focuses in particular upon boilers for mill engines, though there is a small section describing locomotive boilers. He deals with high and low pressure boilers, form and proportions, the capacity of the steam chamber and what happens when the boiler is too small, together with rules for alteration and improvement. There is advice on re-setting boilers in order to save fuel, methods of estimating power, the best form of fire-grate, boiler cleansing machinery and ways to get rid of scale and boiler balls, which clogged up pipes and flues, and on the cause and prevention of explosions. Various types of boiler, such as the Boulton and Watt boiler or Durham and Cornish boilers are referred to and some leading contemporary books, such as Tredgold and Pambour, are cited. A practical and thorough work.

1904. 8vo, pp. 75; with three folding maps, one plate, and a number of text diagrams and illustrations; prominent rusting around staples affecting first and last couple of leaves, but otherwise clean; stapled as issued in the original printed orange wrappers, 3cm tear with slight loss at head of spine, with further small loss at tail, rusting from staples evident, obscured library stamp and accession number at head of upper wrapper, with some light marginal dust-soiling. One of a number of works published by Florence Bascom (1862–1945) during her time working as a geological assistant for the U.S. Geological Survey. As well as being one of the first women to earn a master’s degree in geology in the US, (second only to Mary Emilie Holmes (1850-1906) who gained a Ph.D. from Michigan in 1888) Bascom ‘was the first woman to serve as a geologist for the survey... and the first women to become vice-president of that organization [Geological Society of America]. Her work for the survey involved mapping formations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey during the summers and analyzing microscopic slides during the winters. The results were published in folios and bulletins of the U.S. Geological Survey. Bascom’s research consisted chiefly of work on the petrography of the areas that she studied for the U.S. Geological Survey. Her bibliography includes over forty titles’ (Ogilvie, I. p. 87).
Bascom was fortunate in that both her parents were social and educational activists, advocating educational reform and suffrage for women. She was encouraged to go to the University of Wisconsin where she began her study of geology, gaining a BA in 1882 and M.S. in 1887. When John Hopkins opened its graduate school to women, Bascom entered, studied petrology, and received her Ph.D. in 1893, a degree granted by a special dispensation, since women were not admitted officially until 1907.
After teaching for a short time at Ohio State University, she moved to Bryn Mawr College, where she advanced rapidly. Over a couple of years she managed to develop a substantial collection of minerals, fossils, and rocks, and in 1901 founded a department of geology, whilst continuing her work with the U.S. Geological survey. ‘Probably her most important accomplishment was that of a mentor to an entire generation of young women geologists’ (ibid). In the first third of the 20th century, Bascom's graduate program was considered to be one of the most rigorous in the country, with a strong focus on both lab and fieldwork, and she set high standards for her students as well as herself. In 1937, 8 out of 11 of the women who were Fellows of the Geological Society of America were graduates of Bascom's course at Bryn Mawr College. Many got positions in government as University teachers, as well as federal and in-state surveyors. Additionally during WWII some of her students were involved in confidential work for the Military Geology Unit in the U.S. Geological Survey. Noted students include Eleanora Bliss Knopf (1883-1974, Anna Isabel Jonas (later Stose, 1881-1974), Ida Helen Ogilvie (1874-1963) and Mary Winearls Porter (1886-1980). Geologists consider her to be the ‘first woman geologist in America.’

1927. 8vo, pp. 469-480; with five text illustrations and halftones; paper a little soiled and browned; in the original orange printed wrappers, slightly soiled, fore-edge nicked and a little furled and frayed. Offprint of this important paper by the Austrian/US physicist Marietta Blau (1894-1970), published during her time as an unpaid researcher at the Institute of Radium Research, Vienna (1923-1938), a follow up to ‘Über die photographische Wirkung natürlicher H-Strahlen’ (1925) and outlining her pioneering work on the development of the photographic method of detecting and observing nuclear particles and reactions, a method which was to play a prominent role in nuclear physics in the following decades. Considered extraordinarily gifted by Albert Einstein, Blau was nominated three times for the Nobel prize in physics, twice by Erwin Schrodinger. ‘Blau began to explore the possibility of finding protons and smashed atoms using photographic emulsions. Finally, in 1925, she succeeded in detecting the fragments of atoms hit by alpha particles, including the thinner, harder-to-find tracks of protons. These experiments were followed in 1926 and 1927 by a series of experiments in which Blau bombarded aluminium with alpha particles in order to measure the nuclear fragments that would emerge. Unfortunately, with a week radioactive source (the only kind available to her), she had to settle for the very lowest energy particles. It was clear that is she was going to make fast protons visible (as opposed to the much more heavily ionizing nuclear fragments or slow-moving protons), she would have to improve both the emulsion and the development process that would bring out the narrow tracks’ (Galison, Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics, p. 150).
Blau received her Ph.D. in 1919 with a thesis on ray physics and the absorption of gamma rays. Following her doctorate she moved to Berlin in 1921, taking a position with a company that manufactured X-ray tubes. This was followed by a position at the Institute for Medical Physics at the University of Frankfurt where she worked and published papers on X-ray physics. ‘Blau’s sex and her Jewish background impeded her professional advancement in Austria... When the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, Blau, who was out of the country at the time, did not return. She worked briefly in Oslo at the invitation of her friend Ellen Gleditsch, then relocated to Mexico City. In 1944 Blau moved to New York, where she worked on radioactivity and took out several patents. She then did research at Columbia University and at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Afterward she took a position at the University of Miami’. Due to the brevity of her employment in the United States, Blau’s retirement income was very low. In order to economize on expenses, she returned to Austria for an eye operation. Poor health caused in part by radiation exposure prevented her from returning to the United States, and she died impoverished in Vienna’ (Ogilvie I, 143).

1871. Small folio, pp. vi, [2], 28; with six partially hand-coloured lithograph plates; some foxing throughout, more prominent in early leaves, with some staining and foxing to plates; in contemporary red cloth backed grey boards, with paper printed label on upper cover, covers a little scuffed and soiled with quite prominent ink stain affecting top margin of upper cover, and smaller mark at the lower fore-edge, extremities and corners lightly bumped and worn; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this finely illustrated anatomical treatise on the femoral vein, by the noted German anatomist Wilhelm Braune (1831–1892), published just a year before his groundbreaking and iconic ‘Topographische-anatomischer Atlas’ (1872), famous for its use of frozen sections.
Braune studied at the universities of Göttingen and Würzburg, and in 1872, became professor of topographical anatomy at the University of Leipzig. His works are renowned for his excellent use of lithography to depict the anatomy of the human body, of which this is a striking and early example. A second edition was published in 1873, together with a companion volume ‘Die Venen der menschlichen Hand’, and which are sometimes found together. These preliminary works and studies eventually culminated in his publication of ‘Das venensystem des menschlichen körpers’ (1884-1889), and which GM remarks was also ‘notable for its excellent illustrations’.

1911. Large folio broadside, 615 x 505mm, pictorial chromolithograph surround and red letterpress, surrounded by gilt border, with larger 95mm tear at tail just touching gilt border, and with further small nicks and tears along upper and right margin; nevertheless a most striking example. A most attractively printed certificate of merit, evoking images of a bygone era pre WWI when traditional rural skills still held sway. Presented to Elea Adine Hare, this large certificate of merit recognises her ‘Proficiency in the Theory and Practice of Cheddar Cheesemaking’, and was awarded in 1911 after examination. Printed in red letterpress, the text is surrounded by a series of appealing vignettes in lithograph depicting various scenes of farming life.
According a family genealogy found online, Elea Adine Hare (1894-1926) was born in 1894 in Saffron Walden, Essex. The tranquil life that she enjoyed as evoked by the certificate was soon to be altered dramatically, as she subsequently served as a Red Cross nurse during WWI. After the war she was employed by the Essex County Council as a milk recorder, but was fatally injured in some sort of accident near a street corner, probably after being struck by a car. She subsequently died on Aug. 14, 1926 at the hospital in Saffron Walden.

ca. 1862. Three parts in one volume, continuously paginated, 12mo; pp. 32, with 16 small wood-engraved illustratios; pp. [ii] part title, 33 - 62, with 12 small wood engravings numbered 17 - 32; pp. [ii] part title, 63 - 90, with 10 wood engravings numbered 33 - 42; lightly foxed throughout, with very small dink affecting upper margins at gutter; disbound. Uncommon later edition of this appealing educational work for children by Anne Bullar (1813-1856). According to COPAC, the date of the first edition appears uncertain, though we believe that it was first published anonymously in 1850 under the variant title ‘Every-day wonders; or, facts in physiology which all should know’, and which was a number of works written anonymously by Bullar and published by John van Voorst. A publisher’s advertisement for Voorst found in Paley’s 1858 second edition of ‘A Manual of Gothic Mouldings’, ascribes this to be her from her pen, together with ‘Domestic Scenes in Greenland and Iceland’ (1844), ‘England before the Norman Conquest’ (1851), and ‘Sunday Book for the Young’ (1855) - none of which are ascribed to her by COPAC. This seemingly later edition, is now fully ascribed to her. Other issues appear to have been available to purchase as separate parts. The present copy, is indeed divided into three distinct parts, each with a separate part title-page, and is paginated continuously: 1. Breathing, blood, digestion, food, and nerves; 2. Bones, the muscles, and skin; and 3. The teeth, the eye, the ear, feeling, tasting, smelling. It appears that at some point these individual parts have been bound together here, although the original binding is no longer present. An incomplete copy located at the Wellcome Library, suggests that this may have been issued under the banner of the Ladies Sanitary Association as part of their Popular Tracts on Health, and the individual parts bound in wrappers.

1930. Small 8vo, pp. 255, [1] advertisement, and with map on verso of front free endpaper, and further advertisement on recto of final free endpaper; paper a little browned due to paper quality; in the original printed red publisher’s cloth, head and tail of spine a little bumped and rubbed, covers a little sunned and lightly soiled, extremities lightly bumped. A comprehensive price list of ‘special preparations, and a general run of chemicals and drugs, in consecutive order’, and issued by the famous London pharmaceutical firm of William Martindale.
The company was best remembered for its extensive compendium of pharmacy, ‘The Extra Pharmacopoeia’ first published in 1883, and by the 1930 had reached its 19th edition, as promoted on the final leaf of the present trade list.
William Martindale (1840-1902) began trading in 1873, the business being situated in New Cavendish Street, and trading as W. Martindale. In the 1890s William's son, William Harrison Martindale (1874-1932) assumed control of his father's firm and expanded the manufacturing side of the business. 1928 he rebuilt the New Cavendish Street premises and erected a factory in Chenies Mews behind University College Hospital. The business, W. Martindale, was acquired by Savory & Moore Ltd in 1933, following which the retail operation at New Cavendish Street continued to trade as W. Martindale until the mid-1970s.

1782. 8vo, pp. xii, 294, [ii] errata; pp. 47 and 235 are cancels; with appealing woodcut head- and tail-pieces; some light foxing and soiling throughout, but otherwise clean and crisp; in later full marbled calf, spine in compartments with raised bands, tooled in gilt with red morocco label lettered in gilt, all edges red, head and tail of spine, joints, and extremities very lightly rubbed, one corner a little worn; with later 20th century gift inscription on front free endpaper; an appealing copy. First edition of this manual of obstetrics for midwives, written by Michel Chevreul (1745-1845), father of the chemist and founder of colour theory, Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889). A noted surgeon and obstetrician, Chevreul helped to establish obstetrical schools in Anjou and Touraine, and was director of the medical school at Angers, where the present edition was published.
One of the ever growing number of 'man-midwife', or accoucheurs that emerged during the eighteenth century, Chevreul hoped that his simple and accessible book on the art of midwifery would help in some way to curb the ignorant and indeed pernicious practices found amongst poorly educated rural sages-femmes. Written shortly after the foundation of various provincial teaching establishments, notably in the province of Tours, he strongly advocates the benefits of improved education, to prevent unnecessary suffering. This simple work is divided into five sections, Chevreul having deliberately avoided the use of over complicated physiological or anatomical descriptions. The first section provides a basic introduction to the female anatomy, whilst explaining ways to assess the various stages of pregnancy, and containing a description of the foetus, the placenta, and the umbilical cord. Chevreul identifies four main types of childbirth, "le prématuré, en naturel, en laborieux, et en contre nature". Section two discusses natural childbirth, and how to distinguish between true and false labour pains. Difficult labours and presentations are discussed in the third section, i.e. those which present a danger to the mother or child due to internal complications and which might require some form of intervention, possibly by the use of instrument. More complicated deliveries, such as breach-birth are covered in section four, with the final section outlining abortions, premature births, false pregnancies and extra-uterine pregnancies.
A second edition of the present work, Chevreul’s only book publication, was published in 1826. An attractive and scarce manual.

1866. Small folio, pp. [ii], 4 with ten engraved plates and plans (one double-page); some occasional minor marginal dust-soiling, and some light foxing; in modern marbled wrappers with new endpapers; a good copy. First separate edition of this attractively illustrated architectural account of the design and construction of the new anatomical Institute at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Berlin, by the noted German architect Friedrich Albert Cremer (1824-1891). The engraved plates include depiction’s of some of the finer details of the building, including some of the ornate light fittings, and even the water closets, with plans of the proposed grounds also included.
Cremer, the son of the builder Johann Peter Cremer (1785-1853), studied architecture at the Berlin Academy in 1846. After some time spent in the Prussian Army as a hydraulics engineer, he returned to Berlin in 1859 and was appointed as a building Inspector. His first major architectural project, together with Carl Johann Christian Zimmermann (1831-1911), was an expansion to the Berlin debt prison to create a women’s prison. This was followed by his two most famous commissions for the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität: designing both a new Anatomical Institute building as discussed here, and under the guidance of the new director of Chemistry August Wilhelm von Hofmann, a new purpose-built chemistry laboratory, about which Cremer also published a similar account in 1868, Das neue chemische laboratorium zu Berlin.
The present account was also published in Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 16/1866 and 17/1867.

[1682.]. 12mo, pp. [24], 276, [xii]; with two engraved plates and small engraved head-piece; lightly browned and foxed throughout, some worming affecting lower gutter from ff. 70 to the end, though never touching text and unobtrusive, some dampstaining affecting gutter and lower corner from ff. 263 getting more prominent; in contemporary sprinkled calf, spine in compartments with raised bands,tooled and lettered in gilt, head and tail of spine and joints expertly repaired, corners repaired, covers and extremities lightly rubbed and worn; with the ex-libris stamp and book-plate of Dr J. C. Bergo on front paste-down and free endpaper. First edition of this staunch attack against the practice of bloodletting, the work of the physician Louis Cusac (fl. 1682-1692), and one of few 17th century authors to speak out against the practice, in what was a golden age of bloodletting. Written in the form of dialogues between Cleante and Lisandre, and Lisandre and Polemon, Cusac’s criticism of the practice is made clear from the very start, as he expresses in his introductory ‘Epistre’ addressed to the King (and which he signs at the end revealing his authorship of the work). ‘Ever since medicine has recognised that blood was the principle and the support of life, it employed all possible means to preserve it. But being persuaded in the course of time that it contained within itself the cause of almost all our ills, it believed that to deliver us from these, it was necessary to exhaust our veins; in such a way that frequent bleeding has become the quickest and most familiar of all remedies... But how important it is, Sir, to arrest the course of this error, which destroys nature, by depriving it of its strength’. Cusac, in contrast, recommends using a spirit of wine, of his own making, which ‘peut, en ostant les obstructions des pores, contribuer à rétablir la nature’ (preface p. 15). By opening up the pores, he can cure the sick, helping them to sweat out the corruption in the veins and other parts of the body. As Cusac notes in the preface, he was inspired by ‘des Aphorismes de Sanctorius’, who did much work on the study of ‘insensible perspiration’ or sweating through the skin. Cusac devotes the first part of the work discussing his theories, with the second section highlighting his therapeutic use of his ‘spirit of wine’. Santorio’s ‘De Statica Medica’ was first published in 1614, and had not yet been translated into French, the first French edition appearing in 1694. Cusac was to publish a further fierce assault on the practice in ‘Reflexions sur la theorie et la pratique d’Hippocrate et de Galien’ (1692).
The present work received a favourable review in the the Journal des Scavans, 1683, (vol. 10, 111-112), supporting his use of perspiration as a more natural remedy to expel corrupt ‘humors’ from the body, and ‘deliver men from the unfortunate necessity of frequent bleeding’. ‘Le Sr. Cusac aprés avoir employé presqu'autant de temps à la recherche de ce secret, que Sanctorius dans la consideration des operations de la nature sur ce sujet, a esté assez heureux pour en trouver un que l'experience de plusieurs cures extraordinaires sur une infinité de differentes malades nous fait juger estre tres-utile et salutaire contre tous les maux, dont les humeurs ne sont ny si froides ny si grossieres, qu'elles ne se puissent evaporer par le transpiration. Il consiste dans un certain esprit de vin composé à sa maniere, dont on fomente les malades suivant les maux qu'ils ont, ou selon les parties qui sont affligées. Cet esprit de vin ouvre d'abord les pores d'une maniere aisée; en suite la nature secondée et fortifiée par cette douce chaleur agite les humeurs, les attenüe, les subtilise, et aprés les avoir rarefiées les pousse dehors, et se délivre ainsi du mal, en chassant les causes qui le produisent’.

1942. Together two works, 8vo and 12mo; pp. [xii], 144; with frontispiece portrait of Dr Duncan Main, and 12 full-page photographs; a little browned throughout, with some prominent foxing in places; pp. 32; paper a little browned; with later newspaper clipping, and religious birthday card loosely inserted; in the original blue publisher’s cloth, ruled in blind, upper cover and spine lettered and decorated in gilt, some light surface wear, extremities a little bumped and rubbed; Eagle pamphlet stapled as issued in the original printed wrappers. Third edition (date of publication uncertain but post 1911) of this fascinating biography of Dr Duncan Main (1856-1934), the British physician renowned for his medical missionary work in Hangzhou in the south-eastern Chinese Province of Zheijiang, and in particular for his work at the Opium Refuge Hospital. As such it provides a valuable account of the opium epidemic and attempts at opium reform. Main, one of the most famous missionaries in China at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, went on to help found the Hospital of Universal Benevolence, the Hangzhou Medical Training College, as well as a leprosarium and tuberculosis sanatorium. He and his wife dedicated 45 years of his life to medical services in China and were credited with the establishment of at least thirty medical and welfare institutions in Hangzhou by the time they left China in 1926.

1937. 4to, pp. 36, with four leaves of coloured plates, together with numerous text illustrations; with errata note tipped at tail of p. 33, and with three revised notes tipped on to p. 35; p. 33 torn at gutter but not touching text; stapled as issued in the original drab card wrappers, with colour plate mounted on upper cover, small tear at tail of upper cover, staples a little rusted, head and tail of spine bumped; an appealing copy. Uncommon manufacturer’s catalogue promoting a complete dental ‘unit’ for modern dental practitioners. The ‘Rathbone’ reclining dental chair together with attached spotlighting, small basins, and moveable apparatus trays, was ‘based on a thorough investigation of the needs of modern dentistry and a study of the possibilities and limitations of dental units generally. The layout is such that every piece of apparatus comes readily and naturally to hand. The position and movements of each component have been planned so that, when in use, the component can be brought to the most convenient position for the operator, and when not required, returned to a point where it will not impede him in any way’.

1920. Solid brass mould, inner plate 125 x 82mm, set within outer brass frame one side with two locking pins, the whole 160 x 93 x 25mm; signs of light wear and burnishing, though impressions barely warn and still clear and pronounced, upper surface with some abrasion; a heavy item weighing 2.5kg. Original brass mould with 42 impressions for incisor and canine teeth - seemingly for both both primary and secondary teeth. Sadly the manufacturer is anonymous, though we believe it to be English. The only identifying feature is the number 5, indicating this to be one of a series of similar plates.
The history of dentures and artificial teeth dates back to the Etruscans, and were traditionally made of wood, ivory, and indeed human teeth - a practice which lasted well into the 19th century. The 18th century saw the development of porcelain artificial teeth and dentures, though these were prone to chip and could be ‘noisy’. The nineteenth century saw significant improvements, thanks largely to the work of S.S. White in the US, and Claudius Ash in London. Porcelain was replaced by Vulcanite, with the 20th century eventually seeing this replaced by acrylic resin and other plastics.
Brass moulds came into common use during the 19th century, and were considered preferable to plaster of Paris moulds, being more durable and producing more uniform and better teeth. As Paul Goddard noted in his classic work of 1844 ‘The Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Human Teeth’, it was important to ensure that the ‘cavities in which the teeth are to be moulded, must be one-fifth larger than the tooth wanted, as the body shrinks in that proportion in baking’ (p. 162). The moulds would oiled and then filled with the prepared paste. ‘The cavities are not only to be filled, but a redundancy is left projecting, which is to be squeezed out by putting the back of the mould on and squeezing it in a vice’ (ibid).

1862. 8vo, pp. 162, [iii] index, [3] blank; with 35 lithograph plates and one large folding frontispiece plan, plates interleaved with a blank leaf; general clean and fresh, paper a little more browned from p. 126 onward seemingly due to varying paper stock; with small Madras booksellers stamp at tail of title-page; one of two of the plates rather weak impressions with slightly faint text; in contemporary half black morocco over cloth boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, head and tail of spine a little knocked and rubbed, covers a little faded, light rubbing to joints and extremities, corners a little worn; a good copy. Fifth edition (first 1852?), of this detailed and well illustrated manual of civil engineering, providing a fascinating insight into the organisation and maintenance of public infrastructure projects in British Colonial India.
According to the preface, the present work is a compilation drawn from a number of sources including ‘“Jackson’s surveying,” “Simms on Mathematical Instruments,” “Millington’s Civil Engineering,” “Mahan’s Civil Engineering,” and “Gillespie on Roads.” The accounts of brick making and tile making as practised at Mercara were kindly furnished to the compiler. The rules for the repairs of Tanks and Channels were drawn up some years ago by the late Captain Best, and a few copies distributed, but they were never printed till they appeared in the first edition of this book. Some memoranda of the same officer have been inserted in the chapters on bridges and roads. The tables of Indian weights and measures and the fall of rain at Madras have been taken from the Madras New Almanac... Though containing many extracts from other books, yet there will be found here much matter, relating to building processes peculiar to the country, which has not before been printed’ (preface). The number of plates included in the present edition has apparently also been increased.
The work is divided into eight chapters and an appendix, and deal in turn with surveying and levelling; materials used in building; masonry; foundations; roofs; bridges; roads; and works of irrigation. The appendix provides additional information on such matters as tables of rates of earth works; tables of cart hire; weights and measures; price list of labour, materials and work; and a glossary of Indian revenue and irrigation terms.

1890-1901.]. Large oblong album, 270 x 420 mm; ff. 33 leaves of thick paper 264 x 410mm; with 399 late Victorian calling cards, greeting cards, menus, invitations etc neatly mounted and organised, with a further 7 items loosely inserted, front and rear endpapers also used, four pages unused, and one calling card blank; a number of the cards signed or with manuscript messages of greeting, several of the mounted items with neat manuscript annotations penned below by Dietz; some light foxing, soiling throughout, with some offsetting and see-through caused by the glue, a few cards now a little faded, one or two slightly creased, and with a couple of small marginal tears; An extraordinary turn of the century personally compiled album of printed calling cards and correspondence, received over a number of years by Catinka [also Cathinka] Mackenzie de Dietz (1813-1901), noted concert pianist and former pianist to the Queen of Bavaria. As such, it throws a fascinating light upon her social circle, forming a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of European Royalty and High Society, and made even more appealing by her acerbic and often slightly scandalous annotations! in the original ribbed brown publisher’s cloth, ruled in blind with ‘Souvenir’ in gilt on upper cover, lower joint split at tail, spine somewhat sunned, small loss of cloth on upper cover, rear cover crinkled and stained at tail, with some wear along upper margin, corners a little bumped and worn. Dietz ‘made her Paris debut on 7 February 1836 at the Salle Pleyel with the first movement of Hummel's Concerto in A Minor and Kalkbrenner's staple debut piece - his Grand Duo in D for two pianos, Op. 128 - with Thalberg. Her career revolved around placements at royal courts. By 1840 she was pianist to the queen of Bavaria; the following year she played at the French court and was appointed pianist to the queen of the French in 1845. She composed salon pieces, played regularly for Queen Victoria, and was reported to have written an oratorio for which Queen Victoria accepted the dedication. Her pianistic style was Classical, firmly within the Kalkbrenner tradition. She sometimes published under her married name, Mackenzie von Dietz.’ (Katherine Ellis, "Female Pianists and Their Male Critics," Journal of the American Musicology Society Vol. 50 2/3, p. 359). She married William Mackenzie Shaw, Managing Director of the Antwerp and Rotterdam Railways, and they apparently divided their time between Paris and Saint Germain, no doubt entertaining quite extensively, if the present array of cards is anything to go by. Amongst the small number of loosely inserted additional material, are the two black-edged mourning invitations printed by Catinka for her husband after his death on December 7th 1890.
The souvenir album houses predominantly elegantly printed calling cards, though Dietz has also retained and mounted a handful of greeting and Christmas cards, invitations, menus, and clippings. European Royalty are well represented, with several cards given by Princes, Princesses, Counts and Countesses, Viscountesses, and Barons. A high percentage of the cards have been given by other women. Others reveal her various artistic relationships, and as a whole, the album provides a wonderful snap-shot of social connections and late Victorian high society. A number have been inscribed by the giver with messages of esteem, whilst of particular appeal, Dietz herself has frequently added a little note below the card (usually in French, though sometimes English), and which often prove to be quite humorous and sometimes a little acerbic, adding some delicious flavour to this Who’s Who of the Belle Époque.
Under the card for ‘Le Comte de Barck’ she has written ‘c'est dangereuse de s'embarquer avec lui?; Alderman Wilson of Beckenham apparently gave very good dinners; Mrs Crawford Bromehead apparently ‘found the tenors kinder than her husband,’; Mrs Baker ‘was a prim lady’; Mrs R. E. Hamer ‘Her pretty face greeted her two husbands’; under the card for Lady Caroline Murray ‘Sa famille ne payait pas ses dettes’; under the card for M. & Madame Ernest du Fresnel ‘Out of sight, out of mind’; for the painter James Frutier she notes that he ‘sells spinach’; E. Nathan, ‘miaule sur son violoncelle et fait le tendre auprès du beau sexe’, whilst Camille Philipp ‘est sourd et pourtant la déesse de la mélodie lui prodigue ses faveurs’ (is deaf and yet the godess of melody lavishes him with favours). The lawyer Malioche apparently ‘does business with lost funds’, whilst she describes Georges Stigelli as ‘a heavy German who made himself an Italian singer by adding an i to his name’; whilst Albert Anschutz, a professor of piano, ‘gives music lessons, cleans, composes lullabies and prepares baths for Madame’.
Increasing attention is being given to the study of Victorian card ephemera, including calling cards, of which the present album provides a comprehensive and unique example. As the 19th century progressed, rules of deportment became more rigid, and cards helped define the complicated new social code and express its growing sentimentality. Barbara Rusch provides some insight into their importance in her essay ‘The Secret Life of Victorian Cards’ on the Ephemera Society of America’s website. ‘Cards were the ambassadors of social convention, and their subtle, covert messages were well understood by those who used them as tools in the creation of an image of respectability in an increasingly demanding and judgemental world. Particularly noteworthy are cards of social and cultural significance such as the visiting card. In Our Deportment, published in 1890, John Young observes: “To the unrefined or under-bred, the visiting card is but a trifling and insignificant bit of social paper; but to the cultured disciple of social law, it conveys a subtle and unmistakable intelligence. Its texture, style of engraving, and even the hour of leaving it to combine to place the stranger, whose name it bears, in a pleasant or a disagreeable attitude, even before his manners, conversation and face have been able to explain his social position.”... The use of cards in 19th-century daily life represented and helped define class, breeding, and status. They were a form of social contract, a common language, and ideology through which the Victorians communicated with one another, maintained moral standards and disseminated popular culture’ (Rusch).

1879. 8vo, pp [4] pamphlet printed in red, black and gilt, 255 x 168mm, together with accompanying, seemingly hand-written though possibly facsimile, two-sided letter on headed paper 285 x 216mm, and with original stamped envelope 90 x 155mm; pamphlet and letter with evidence of previous horizontal and vertical folds, envelope a little soiled and stained. A most striking pamphlet, partially printed in gilt, promoting one of a number of electro-galvanic appliances offered by this noted firm. First patented in the US in 1853 by the Viennese Doctor, Isaac Lewis Pulvermacher, (though previously demonstrated in both London and Edinburgh), the "electric belt" was a battery-powered flexible series of linked cells worn wrapped around parts of the body as a form of the new medical treatment called "electrotherapy". It became particularly popular with quack practitioners, though received considerable criticism from the medical establishment, though some respectable physicians (whose names were sometimes used in Company ads without permission) had to admit that the Belt had some scientific usefulness. The Chain battery here advertised was yet another device, which could be used in conjunction with the belt and a suspensory appliance for the specific treatment of ‘impotence’. The various bands, belts and battery sets were advertised for cases of nervous debility, lost energy, spermatorrhoea, female complaints, epilepsy, paralysis, kidney disease and ‘other chronic disorders’.
We believe the accompanying letter to be hand-written - though there is a hint of a facsimile about it and it does feel rather like a form letter - supported by the stamped note on the rear that ‘Owing to the vast extent of our business and the necessity for a routine of departments, all Letters of Advice are dictated by our Examining Electrician to his associates, and then referred to our mailing department, there to be addressed and dispatched by our Corresponding Secretary’.

1883. 8vo, pp. 23, [1]; lightly browned throughout; with faint library stamp of the Birmingham Medical Institute on half-title; rebound in modern maroon cloth with printed label on upper cover. First separate edition of this statistical paper, first presented before the Epidemiological Society of London, and published in their Transactions, highlighting the main causes of death amongst European women and children living in India. As Ewart makes clear, the discrepancy between the mortality rates for those in England, as opposed to the families of European soldiers serving in India was ‘appalling’ - and caused primarily due to malaria, dysentery, cholera, contagious diseases, heat and ‘general debility’.
Very much of its time, Ewart’s paper at times makes for slightly uncomfortable reading, but nevertheless provides an invaluable insight into attitudes and theories of the day.
‘In drawing this paper to a close, it has occurred to me that although Government may accomplish much in lessening the excessive mortality among the women and children of the European Army of India, the benevolent objects which it has always had in view will never be attended with the desired measure of success until the maternal parents are taught, in simple, plain and intelligible language, divested of all technicalities, the precepts and principles of personal hygienic and domestic sanitation. That this might be done may be premised from the control which it can and does exercise upon the families of the soldiers through the military department. Thus, every soldier’s wife who can read - and now, thanks to the universal introduction of state education in England, the time is fast approaching when every woman in these realms who may become a soldier’s wife, will be in a position to read - might be taught the principles of hygiene and sanitation, so that, when required to accompany her husband to India, she may realise the vast importance of pure air, pure water, wholesome food, good cookery, plenty of house room, free ventilation daily exercise and bathing, avoiding undue exposure to the sun, efficient clothing, a perfect system of conservancy and absolute cleanliness, etc., in ensuring the preservation of her own health, and the proper management and rearing of her children. It would not, I fancy, be a very difficult matter to furnish her with a sanitary primer, written in plain and simple language, setting forth, very briefly and concisely, all the simple truths necessary for her to know, regarding matters relating to the conservation of her own health and that of her offspring. Such a work - intelligible to the commonest understanding - if mastered and acted upon, supplemented wherever and whenever practicable by lectures, would go some way in improving the health and lessening the waste of life among the women and children of the European Army of India’ (p. 15).
Sir Joseph Ewart (1831-1906) ‘studied medicine at Anderson’s College, Glasgow, and Guy’s Hospital. After qualifying in 1853, he joined the Bengal Medical Service, then a part of the East India Company. At the time of the Mutiny, he was with the Mehwar Bheel Corps at Kherwarra. Having published a Digest of Vital Statistics of the European and Native Armies in India in 1859, he was given charge of the statistical office at Calcutta. He then became successively professor of physiology, professor of medicine and principal of the Calcutta Medical College, senior physician to the College Hospital and senior surgeon to the European General Hospital. As a municipal commissioner and magistrate of Calcutta, he did much for the city’s sanitation and water supply. A breakdown in his health compelled Ewart to return to England in 1876, and he retired three years later, with the rank of deputy surgeon-general. Settling in Brighton, he devoted his energies to municipal affairs. He sat on the town council from 1884 to 1905 and held office as mayor from 1891 to 1894’ (Munks Roll).

1792. 4to, pp. 4; with woodcut head-piece; a little foxed and spotted with some dust-soiling (mainly marginal), and some light finger-soiling visible to fore-edge; with contemporary inscription above head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’; stitched in later marbled wrappers, and with plain paper outer dust-wrapper, title and date in manuscript florid calligraphic hand, believed to be in the hand of Quarré-Reybourbon, with his book-label ‘Collection Quarré-Reybourbon, Lille’ on inside cover of front marbled wrapper; very good. First edition of this important legal document announcing the approval for use of a mechanical beheading device, first called a ‘louisette’, but more infamously later renamed after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814).
Whilst not the first such capital punishment device, the guillotine became synonymous with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, although it was invented with the intention of making executions more humane and less painful, in accordance with Enlightenment thought. Previous methods were substantially more gruesome and often prone to error.
Guillotine first proposed the use of a more humane device on October 10th 1789. A death penalty opponent, he sought to persuade Louis XVI to implement a less painful alternative, and proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation ‘by means of a simple mechanism’. It was, however, the French surgeon and Royal physician Antoine Louis (1723-1792), together with the German engineer Tobias Schmidt (1755-1831), who built the first prototype, Louis as Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Surgery having been appointed as head of a committee to investigate the matter. The eventual machine was deemed successful, and soon replaced the more traditional methods of beheading by sword or axe, or hanging.
The present pamphlet announces the passing of the decree by the National Assembly on March 20th 1792, and transcribes Dr. Louis’ text, ‘Avis motivé sur le mode de la décolation’: ‘The mode in use in the past to cut off the head of a criminal exposes him to a more dreadful torture than the simple deprivation of life... The execution must be done in an instant and only one blow... It is necessary for the certainty of the process, that it depends on invariable mechanical means, of which one can also determine the force and the effect... The back of the instrument must be strong enough and heavy enough to act effectively like the ram which is used to drive in pillories... It is easy to have such a machine built, the effect of which is unmistakable, the beheading will be done in an instant... ‘
What makes the present example of particular appeal to printing historians, is the contemporary inscription found above the woodcut head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’, and noting ‘1400 placards, 1500 in 4to’, suggesting that the present copy was used as a template for a provincial impression. There is a further signature - ‘Delval Lagache’, and who we believe to be Antoine Joseph Delval Lagache (1749-1822), at the time appointed by Paris as a leading administrative figure in Douai, and who would no doubt have been in charge of the distribution of National Assembly decrees throughout the region (see Duthilloeul, Galerie Douaisienne, 1844, ff. 96). François Descamps (1760-1794) was a printer in Douais. Initially rallied to the ideals of 1789, he subsequently became disillusioned with the anti-religious policy of the Revolution and began publishing critical essays and verses. In 1794 he was denounced by the revolutionary committee of Douai, and was put to death - by guillotine - on April 21.
The present example was once in the collection of the noted French historian and collector Louis François Quarré-Reybourbon (1824-1906). He amassed an impressive collection of objects and works relating to the département du Nord, Hainaut and Artois.