1900. Calendar, 252 x 175 mm, comprised of six chromolithographs on card printed by Forbes of Boston, with printed advertisements on each verso; a few minor surface abrasions and some light browning and soiling, otherwise bright and fresh, retaining the original hanging cord ties at head; a good example. A wonderfully macabre promotional device, issued by the Antikamnia Chemical Company, the renowned Missouri firm, to promote their pain medication (Antikamnia = ‘opposed to Pain’).
The striking chromolithographs are the work of Dr Louis Crusius (1862-1898), after his own original water-colour drawings. Born in Wisconsin Crusius was the oldest of nine children, and at fifteen he became a printer’s apprentice in the newspaper office of his father who published the local German daily. From there he spent some time in Texas to work in the drugstore of his uncle, a physician and pharmacist. In the early 1880s he moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he graduated from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 1882. For a time, he was part owner of the drugstore of Scheel and Crusius at the corner of 14th Street and Clark Avenue, with Gustav Scheel, his brother-in-law. ‘The show-windows of his drug store always displayed six or eight of his comic water-colour sketches. None of these remained more than a week of so, being replaced by newer creations. The partnership continued until he graduated from the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1890 and entered the practice of medicine. He was lecturer and professor in histology at the Marion Sims Medical College, a precursor to the St. Louis University Medical Department. In 1893, he published ‘The Funny Bone’, a compilation of jokes and 150 cuts from his comic drawings, and he continued to produce original artworks, many of which he gave away, but he sold a number of them to the Antikamnia Company, and which they used for advertising purposes, as so vividly highlighted here. His ‘skeletons’ were used to illustrated a series of calendars between 1897-1901, all promoting their pain and fever reducing tablets. Like Dr. Crusius, the company’s founders were graduates of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, and the calendars were produced as a limited edition, sent to doctors and the medical fraternity upon request, and the images soon gained both Crusius and the company considerable notoriety.
The analgesic compound, which was never patented, was marketed as a 'proudly ethical drug' and used to treat headaches, fever, stomach aches, nervousness, insomnia and 'the blues'. It was claimed to be a new synthetic coal-tar derivative but in fact contained almost 50% acetanilid, which was sometimes mixed with codeine or quinine. The toxic effects of acetanilid were exposed in a 1907 California State Journal of Medicine article, 'Poisoning by Antikamnia', and the company was prosecuted by the government in 1914 for violating the disclosure terms of the Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Sadly Crusius had died in the previous year that the present calendar was conceived, at the age of 35 from a renal cell carcinoma. A final issue was produced in 1901.

1926. 8vo, pp. xii, 155, [1] blank, with an initial blank; title-page printed in red and orange, text printed on a pale yellow ground; with numerous photographic illustrations and diagrams in the text, and six tables on three folding card mounts with a total 107 small samples of developed film (some slight oxidation to a number of examples, but overall in good condition); small tear at tail of p. 100 & 105, with some soiling to outer margin of p. 60, and some light marginal browning throughout; a good copy in contemporary quarter maroon morocco and marbled boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, tail of spine slightly nicked with minor loss, with small hole at tail of lower joint, extremities a little rubbed and bumped. First edition of this important primary source book in the history of early cinema and film production. Published by Pathé, this extensive technical manual on the development of Pathé film for motion pictures was one of a small number of such manuals published during the 1920s by the leading producers of film stock, and contains not only technical information on the colouring systems used at the time by the motion picture industry, but is notable for including sets of illustrations made of actual pieces of original nitrate film. ‘These books, together with a handful of other primary sources, constitute the basis of our knowledge of a relatively neglected topic in the study of early cinema: the effects achieved by colouring film stock’ (Paolo Chechi Usai, 'The Color of Nitrate' p. 22, in Richard Abel, ed., Silent Film, 1996).
Four basic methods of producing coloured films existed before the introduction of technicolour. These were: hand colouring (the earliest and most basic), stencil-colouring (pathécolor was a refined version), tinting (staining the film uniformly) and toning (redeveloping in a chemical bath to tint the darker, developed portions of the film only). All are illustrated here, as is the combined use of tinting and toning; 'only a relatively small section of the Pathé text deals with film coloring, but the three foldout cardboard tables of illustrations with 107 individual nitrate frames are the most complete ever published' (Paolo Chechi Usai, 'The Color of Nitrate' in Richard Abel, ed., Silent Film, 1996). Samples show the influence of under- and over-exposure; the effect of temperature on development; films with a coloured base and/or chemically toned; mordanting (for intensification); pathécolor, etc. Also included are samples of the 9.5mm home-cinema film introduced by Pathé in 1922 as Pathé-Baby. The text includes details on the use of Pathé machinery and the chemical recipes for development.

Heavy card sheet, 396 x 265 mm, with eight cut-out windows, neatly drawn in pen and ink (with draughtsman’s pin and guide marks faintly visible), finished by hand in brown wash, with additional green coloured collage of a flower in bloom, with two internal dials/volvelles, the inner 155mm in diametre, the outer 215 mm in diametre, both neatly lettered in manuscript in brown ink, the inner dial with additional charming hand-coloured illustrations of the signs of the zodiac, volvelles held in place by a later metal disk and brass screw; the calendar itself is quite heavily browned and soiled, notably in the centre of the upper margin, with some small abrasions, slight loss to the collage, small loss to 1cm at lower left margin, the volvelles with signs of rubbing where turned, inner volvelle with evidence of what appear to be contemporary corrections; the calendar set within a heavy oak surround, behind hinged glass ‘lid’ fixed in place with a metal clasp, in an old gilt wood frame 435 x 305 mm, retaining two hanging hooks at the upper margin, frame somewhat knocked and worn, with prominent wood knot internally with some loss, and visible from the rear and which leaves a hole along the top edge of the frame and has led to the central darkening and soiling of upper calendar edge; despite the evident signs of use, nevertheless a charming, neatly executed, and scarce survivor. An evocative and, despite its signs of use, striking example of a paper perpetual calendar, of particular appeal having been skilfully done by hand in ink, brown wash, and hand-colour, seemingly the work of ‘Florent Chausson’, who has signed both of the inner volvelles. The outer ‘clock-face’ has been neatly drawn in pen and ink and finished in brown wash. A closer inspection reveals and small pinned guide-marks used by Chausson with his draughtsman’s tools. An ornate arch design is supported by twin columns on a faux-marble base, and is surmounted by a finial and a fine armillary sphere and globe. A green paper collage of a flower in bloom has also been added. Eight ‘windows’ have been neatly cut out. Attached by a later central pin, are two ‘dials’ or volvelles, the outer marked by hand with days of the month which can be set against a fixed scale of days of the week marked on the front board, this latter scale noting both the day, its corresponding planetary symbol, and planet name. The inner volvelle rotates independently, and is set to the month. Relevant information is then visible in six windows: the time of sunrise (being the average for that month), time of sunset, length of day, length of night, Zodiacal sign symbol (beautifully drawn and hand-colored), and list of the principal feast days. An unusual, charming, and skilfully executed work of art and science. By its very fragile nature and design, a rare survivor, despite the signs of wear: proof, if needed, that it was indeed well used and served its’ purpose!

Single sheet of laid paper, sheet size 245 x 191mm, plate mark 175 x 155mm; with unidentified and hard to discern watermark, paper a little browned and soiled, with faint small pencil annotation on right margin; ownership label ‘Collection A. Tumbuef’ adhered to lower right corner; mounted on to large boards ready for framing, with protective clear acetate window; a most appealing example. A charming engraved proof for the outer face of a simple French paper perpetual calendar, presumably dating from the mid 18th century. A small cherub, holding a scythe and what may well be an hour-glass (both emblems of time), looks down from the top of the calendar, flanked below by two beaming faces of the sun (on the left and right), the central panel adorned with flowing banners and foliage. Presumably intended to be mounted on a heavier pasteboard backing, as the lettering reveals, this outer face would then be attached to one, if not two, internal dials/volvelles, which would be marked to show the month, the day, the ‘cours du soleil’, the sunset and sunrise, the lengths of the day and night, and finally the principal festivals and holidays for each month. In this proof, the windows through which the information on the volvelles could be viewed, have yet to be cut out. A small dot marks where the volvelles were to be fixed. Sadly the engraving is anonymous, nevertheless a charming and unusual survivor of a fragile paper instrument.

1783. Large 4to, pp. [48], with three engraved plates; text attractively set within ornamental border; title-page somewhat soiled with some edge wear, some marginal dust-soiling and light foxing and browning throughout; with extensive manuscript about the work on inside front cover, in a single near contemporary hand and ca. 1842; stitched as issued (though stitching replaced) in the original pink decorative wrappers, author and title lettered in ms on upper cover, spine exposed with some chipping to joints, covers somewhat soiled and darkened, with some faint dampstaining at head of rear wrapper, overall a little dog-eared, but still good. The attractively printed first edition of this biting satire against monks, classifying the various types of religious orders according to a system modelled on Linnaean taxonomy, through an analysis and description of their nature, dress, and habits. Published under the pseudonym ‘Joannis Physiophilus’ it was in fact the work of the noted Austrian mineralogist and metallurgist Ignaz Edler von Born (1742-1791). ‘In the preface the author tells how "monks" provide the missing link in the evolutionary chain between apes and Man, resembling Man in physical appearance but generally behaving more like monkeys. The author hopes to inspire men of means to build menageries to house foreign and exotic monks such as the "Brahmin", the "Dervish", and the exceedingly rare "Lama". If the specimen cannot be captured, he suggests the inclusion of a stuffed exhibit or of one pickled in alcohol. Each chapter deals with a different European religious order such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Trappists and Carmelites, and provides a brief description of the appearance and habits of each "species" together with a bibliography’ (Hagstromer Library online description).
For a brief time a member of the Jesuit order, Born had quickly decided that he was not cut out for monastic life, and moved to Prague to study law. After graduation, he made extensive tours throughout Germany, Holland and France, and during this period developed an interest in the natural sciences and geology, eventually becoming a leading mineralogist. In 1770, he joined the department of mines and the mint. Among his first official duties was a tour of the mines of Hungary and Transylvania. At one location, he descended into a shaft to soon after the fires to detach the ore had been extinguished, and was exposed to a near fatal dose of arsenic rich vapours, which resulted in permanent nerve damage which plagued him for the rest of his life, and forced him to pursue passive activities such as his mineral collection. He published a number of works, and was one of the first to realize the great part fossils were to play in historical geology and the first to describe the use of mercury in the extraction of gold and silver. In 1776 he was called to Vienna by the Empress Maria Theresa to arrange the natural history collections, the predecessor of today's Naturhistorisches Museum, publishing in 1778 the well regarded catalogue ‘Index rerum naturalium Musei Cæsarei Vindobonensis’, followed in 1780 by ‘Testacea Musei Caesarei Vindobonsensis, considered to be one of the most beautiful of all conchology books. He remained in Vienna until his death on July 24, 1791. A leading Enlightenment figure, and member of several scientific academies, Born was a prominent member of the Freemasons in Vienna, being head of the Illuminati lodge, and is considered by many to have been the inspiration behind the character of Sarastro, in Mozart’s Magic Flute, Born having introduced and tutored Mozart into the Lodge.
The satirical ‘Specimen Monachologiae’ was one of a number of anti-clerical works written by Born, no doubt prompted by his Jesuit experiences as a youth in Vienna, and whilst appealing to his own anti-clerical circles, caused outrage amongst Viennese Church officials, the book being added to the banned list ‘Index librorum prohibitorum’, described in Dec. 6, 1784. A detailed discussion of the work, including a translation of much of the preface, can be found within The Retrospective Review Vol 3, 1821, pp. 76-83, edited by Henry Southern.

1791. 8vo, pp. [iv], 138, [1] errata, [1] blank; with engraved frontispiece printed in sepia (laid down on), signed by William Hibbert; some light foxing throughout, with some minor edge wear along fore-edge; with a number of contemporary corrections and annotations in pencil throughout; in recent blue paperbacked boards, with plain cream spine reback; a good copy. First Bath printing of this romanticised Latin verse on the fertilisation of plants, or the ‘marriage of flowers’, by Demetrius de la Croix, edited by Sir Richard Clayton, and printed at Bath by Samuel Hazard. The poem was first published as the preface of Sebastian Vaillant’s Botanicon Parisiense in 1727. Written by a Irish physician, Demetrius MacEnroe, who was living in Paris, it was expanded and printed separately in 1728 under the name of Demetrius de la Croix, a French translation of the author’s Irish name. The poem attained a certain celebrity, and came to the attention of both Pope and Swift.
The striking frontispiece, printed in sepia, was engraved by the Bath engraver William Hibbert, and purports to show Barometz or Scythian Lamb, (also known as borometz or vegetable lamb of tartary) a legendary form, once thought to be part plant and part animal, and which supposedly grew lambs as its fruits, which grazed attached to the plant by an umbilical cord. Once the plant died, so did the lamb. In reality it is now believed to have been an Asian fern, but it became a staple of early cabinets of curiosities. The poem itself takes up only 37 pages (pp. 21-58) of the present edition, being preceded by prefatory material, and followed by notes and observations added for this edition by Sir Richard Clayton. The notes are in French, Latin, Greek and English, Clayton citing a number of botanical luminaries including Ray, Grew, Linnaeus, Tournefort, Rousseau, Martyn and Erasmus Darwin.

1887. 8vo, pp. [iii] - xi, [i] blank, 112; with steel engraved frontispiece, and seven engraved plates (included within pagination); with slight offsetting from frontispiece onto title-page, final page browned with some offsetting, otherwise generally clean; in contemporary green fine grained cloth, ruled and decorated in gilt and blind, with image of plant in gilt on upper cover, head and tail of spine a little worn, joints, extremities, and covers all a little rubbed and scuffed, with some slight fading; with ex-libris book plate ‘The Donald Beatty Bloch Collection’ loosely inserted at the rear. First edition of this noted essay by the British naturalist Henry Lee (1826? - 1888), offering up what he believes to be the definitive explanation of the centuries old myth of the ‘Vegetable Lamb of Tartary’, also referred to as the ‘Lamb-Tree’, the ‘Scythian Lamb’, or ‘Borometz’ (sometimes barometz). After extensive research, it was Lee’s belief that ‘the rumour referred to the cotton-pod, and originated in the first introduction of cotton and the fabrics woven from it into Eastern Europe’ (p. x). The work includes a number of striking reproductions of images of the mythical plant from historical sources, and concludes with a chapter on the history of cotton and the cotton plant.
The myth surrounding this legendary form, thought to be part plant and part animal, can be traced back to antiquity, with descriptions of Indian ‘tree wool’ found in the Ancient Greek writings of Theophrastus and Herodotus. Versions of the myth can also be found in the Jerusalem Talmud of 400. It evolved through the Middle Ages, with medieval texts describing two varieties of the Vegetable Lamb. The first produced little naked, newborn lambs inside its pods, whilst the other had a life-sized lamb, with bones, blood and flesh, attached by its belly button to a short plant stem. This stem was extremely flexible, so allowed the tethered lamb to graze on the vegetation around it. Once all the vegetation was eaten, or if the stem broke, the lamb would die. Over the centuries, many notable scholars, including John Parkinson, Francis Bacon, Christopher Wren, Nehemiah Grew, Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin and Sir Hans Sloane, examined specimens (it having become a staple of all good cabinet of curiosities), and posited theories as to the exact nature of the plant, which gave rise to some believing it came from the vast region of Europe and Central Asia known then as Tartary, (hence the alternative name of Borametz, which was the Tartar word for "lamb"). Alternative theories looked to Asia for the source, with specimens of what was termed agnus scythius (Scythian Lamb) or agnus scythius borometz arriving from China, which had its own vegetable lamb tradition: the mu-mien, or “mound-planted sheep,” whose inspiration may have been descriptions of the cotton plant in Chinese poetry circa 1000–1200. Sloane was among the commentators who judged these woolly samples, however, to be fern rhizomes, not lambs of any sort.
Scythia at the time described many regions in Europe and Asia, and Lee in his work points rather to Indo-Scythia, a region of India. Alexander the Great’s officer, Nearchus, reported in the fourth century that when they got there, they found its locals clad in a "vegetable wool", later identified as cotton wool. Such accounts, together with those of Herodotus, (see p. 46) lead Lee to credit cotton, not rhizomes, with the origin of the Lamb myth, rejecting Sloane’s theory, and arguing that non-cotton specimens like Sloane’s had been “little lamblike toy figures ingeniously constructed by the Chinese”.

1753. 4to, pp. [14], v, [1] blank, 78, [2], advertisement on final leaf for the second edition of Price’s ‘The British Carpenter’, verso blank; with woodcut headpieces and initials, and 14 engraved plates, an unnumbered plate at p. 1, signed ‘F. Price delin. 1753. P. Fourdrinier Sculp’' and Plates 1–13 by Foudrinier after Price, variously dated 1738, 1746, 1747 and 1748 (the first folding); lightly browned throughout, final blank leaf detached, fore-edge a little frayed;
in contemporary sprinkled sheep, head and tail of spine chipped exposing caps, joints split and fragile, but cords holding, covers scuffed and scratched, extremities rubbed, corners worn and bumped. First edition of this attractively illustrated analysis of the architecture of Salisbury Cathedral, regarded as being ‘the first serious architectural study of a Gothic building. It is the result of a general survey that he began in 1738 after being appointed clerk of works to the cathedral. From his investigations he was able not only to carry out necessary repairs but, more interesting, to date parts of the vaulting, to note and explain various structural peculiarities, to prove that the tower and spire were not originally intended, and thereby, to make a significant contribution to the building's history.’ (Harris, p. 375).
Price (ca. 1704-1753) was Surveyor at Salisbury Cathedral from 1737 until his death, and the work was the result of a major survy undertaken by him at the request of Bishop Sherlock (to whom the book is dedicated), and, as such, it forms the basis of many subsequent accounts. Price says in his preface that he first became acquainted with the building 16 years earlier and it was only published 3 months before his death. The fine plates after Price’s drawings show the dates of the surveys, 1738, 1746, 1747 and 1748, and include elevations as well as constructional details that would have been useful to the many craftsmen whose names appear in the list of 294 subscribers. They were indeed part of Price’s intended audience, the title page announcing that the book was ‘calculated for the Use and Amusement of Gentlemen, and other curious Persons, as well as for the assistance of such Artists as may be employed in Buildings of the like Kinds …’. This was very much the combined audience also intended for his Treatise on carpentry (1733) meant to be ‘intelligible to Carpenters’ and ‘of use to the ingenious Theorist of Building’. The advertisement leaf at the end (present here but lacking in the RIBA copy) is for a new edition of the Treatise, now named the British carpenter.
An enlarged edition was published as A description of that admirable structure, the cathedral church of Salisbury (1774).

1885. Large 8vo, ff. [6] including wrappers; in lithograph throughout reproducing a manuscript text in facsimile; with small vignette of Senefelder in red on upper wrapper, full page lithograph in red entitled ‘Estudo a pincel’ (brush study), a double page lithograph of Granada, full page lithograph in blue on rear wrapper of entitled ‘Orapar dos jornaes’ (Newspaper Seller), and with further vignettes incorporated into three page borders; lightly browned and soiled throughout due to paper quality; unbound in the original printed wrappers, spine expertly repaired, with some minor edge wear; a good copy of a scarce and ephemeral item. A scarce and appealing pamphlet, seemingly privately printed, and executed entirely in lithograph: we have so far been unable to locate any other copies or mentions of it. It is our belief, however, that it was one of a small number of similar items produced by various leading Portuguese lithographers in order to raise funds for victims of the devastating Andalusian earthquake which had killed over 1200 near Granada on December 25th 1884.
Although the present example has so far been unlocated, the Portuguese National Library record a collaborative work on the same theme ‘Senefelder: numero unico collaborado pelos lithographos da Imprensa Nacional e offerecido á Commissão executiva da imprensa em auxilio dos povos da Andaluzia’ published by the ‘Imprensa Nacional’ in Lisbon in 1885. For this title, five lithographers of the Imprensa, David Corarri, Zephirino Brandão, José Miguel dos Santos, Cypriano Jardim, and João Augusto Barata, jointly produced a work commemorating the work work of Alois Senefelder (1771-1834) to raise funds for the earthquake victims. At the time, chromolithography was still relatively uncommon in Portugal.
The present anonymous example certainly follows the same theme, the text being in the form of a lithographic reproduction of a cursive hand in Portuguese and accompanied by a number of vignettes and illustrations. The text begins with a section in praise of Senefelder, explaining the impetus for his creation of lithography and the process by which it was created. The rest of the text is devoted to the region of Granada, the anonymous author quoting a poem by Rodrigues Cordeiro of 1856, before then providing details of the recent disaster in Andalusia. The author concludes by applauding the ‘brilliant idea’ of the ‘members of the journalists’ association’ for having organised a fund raising initiative to help assist those families and children struggling in the face of such misery.
The work includes printed borders of various designs on 7 pages, full-page illustrations on ff. 2v (a landscape, in red entitled ‘Estudo a pincel’ or brush study) and on ff. 6v (Orapar dos jornaes - a distributor of newsletters, in purple), a double-page illustration on ff. 3v-4r (Granada, in green), and smaller images on ff. 1r (Senefelder) and 4v (an allegory, in green).
As to whether the present example was intended to be part of the collaborative work, and is by one of the lithographers cited by the Portuguese National Library we have so far been unable to establish. Our belief is that it is a separately produced work, although inspired by the wider initiative. An interesting piece of printing history.

1842. Bound manuscript in German, 4to; pp. [ii], xii, 128; with three folding illustrations and two double-sided folding tables; some occasional light browning and soiling, but otherwise clean and crisp; in contemporary green publisher’s decorative moired cloth, spine lettered in gilt, light wear to head and tail of spine with minor loss, covers very slightly soiled and scratched; a most attractive copy. A unique and finely written author’s fair copy, ready, and intended for printing as is shown by the note on the title page which refers to the plates as lithographs. The work was published in the same year (we have located only two copies), and it describes in detail a sophisticated surveyor’s table which, through a mirror system and sliding rules, enables topographical features to be directly plotted and reduced or enlarged to any desired scale. This ingenious device, was available for purchase from Dobner himself, and indeed he subsequently patented his invention (a photo-copy of the abridgement is included with the work), and which was duly recorded in the 1844 ‘Sammlung der Gesetze für das Erzherzogthum Oesterreich unter der Ens’ (Collections of laws for the Archduchy of Austria)’ (Vol. 53, pp. 460-461). According to the patent specification, the instrument was designed for copying, enlarging or reducing maps, plans or charts, with greater accuracy than with the use of a pantograph, and would enable the user to produce a permanent record of a surveyed area, and can be used without having to puncture existing maps with a compass. A contemporary review in the Oekonomische Neuigkeiten und Verhandlungen, whilst deploring the clunkiness of the author’s writing style, which he attributes to Dobner’s Hungarian origin, nevertheless recommends the benefits of the invention.
In his preface, Dobner cites the work of Georg Winckler of Mariabrunn, who in 1809 devised and publicised his ‘Spiegel-lineals’ instrument, and which may well have inspired Dobner to create his own direct plotting topographical instrument, with the aim of reducing the need for manual drawing and calculation when surveying.
The work is dedicated to Anton Karl, Count Pallfy von Erdol (1793-1879), a member of a notable Austro-Hungarian family, with estates at Malaczka. Dobner describes himself on the title page as an ‘Engineer’, and indeed the ‘Sammlung’ notes that Dobner, a noble from ‘Dettendorf und Rantenhof’ was engineer to the Pallfy family. We have been able to find little further biographical information about him, but it seems possible that he was born János Dobner de Rantenhof et Dettendorf in Győr in Hungary 1807, only 70 miles from Malaczka.

1737. Small folio, pp. 8; with woodcut head- and tail-pieces; imprint details missing through cropping; central bifolium shaved at tail affecting a number of letters and with some loss, though meaning still discernible; gutters discretely strengthened, outer corner of final leaf torn with loss, with discrete tape repair to 8cm vertical tear at head, with a few further small repairs evident, a number of small marginal nicks and tears, the whole pamphlet somewhat browned and dust-soiled; ex-libris from the Royal College of Surgeons of England with their faint library stamp on title-page; neatly resewn and bound in modern moired green cloth, with facsimile label on upper cover. A wonderfully acerbic and extremely scarce early 18^th century poetic tirade, taking aim at the increasingly popular, yet notoriously dangerous, fad for quackery, targeting in particular against ‘Three Great Quacks, M—pp. T—l-r, and W----d’, but later named in the poem as ‘Mapp, Taylor and Ward’: Sally Mapp (1706-1737), John Taylor (1703-1772), and Joshua Ward (1685-1761).
The anonymous poet addresses his ‘Epistle’ to a young Cambridge Student whom he names as ‘Harry’, suggesting that he is wasting his time on study, and that it would be more profitable for him to head to London and Pall-Mall, where he would find an ‘ample Crop of Fools’ eager to try any new fancy sounding nostrum, or avail themselves of a popular practitioner.
‘Whilst you, dear Harry, sweat and toil at College/ T’acquire that out-of-fashion Thing call’d Knowledge/ Your time you vainly misemploy, my Friend,/ And use not proper Means to gain your End. / If you resolve Physician to commence, / Despite all learning, banish common-sense; / Hippocrates and Galen never follow, / Nor worship Aesculapius or Apollo: / But to bright Impudent oblations pay, / She’s now the Goddess bears resistless Sway, / Instinct by her, vile Ign’rance gains Applause, / And baffles Physick, Churchmen and the Laws.’ (p. 3).
The anonymous poet goes on to decry the popularity of such quacks: ‘And when a Quack or Thief gets once in Vogue, / There still are Ideots to caress the Rogue, / Nay, in this wise, polite, and well-bred Nation, / Some Fops will Poison take, to be in Fashion.’ He then deals in turn with the notorious bone-setter Sally Mapp, John Taylor, the ‘ocultist’ and effective self-promoter, who claimed to be able to remove cataracts (and reportedly partially blinded Johann Sebastian Bach during one of his European tours), and finally Joshua Ward, remembered for the invention of the ‘Pill and Drop’, a remarkable cure all now suspected of containing large amounts of antimony.
The final ‘Epigram’ pulls no punches in the author’s condemnation of these dangerous rogues: ‘In this bright Age, three Wonder-workers rise, / Whole Operations puzzle all the Wise. / To lame and blind, by dint of manual slight, / Mapp gives the Use of Limbs, and Taylor Sight; / But great Ward, not only lame and blind / Relieves; but all diseases of mankind, / By one sole Remedy removes, as sure / As Death, by Arsenic, all Disease can cure’ (p. 8).
The poem is cited by Nichols and Steevens in their bibliography, ‘The Genuine Works of William Hogarth’, 1810, with a chapter devoted to Mrs Mapp in Volume II, and noting on p. 332 that the St James’s Evening Post of July 19th 1737 printed; ‘This day was published, beautifully printed, price 6d, ‘An Epistle to a young student at Cambridge’, though sadly giving no clue as to the author.
C. J. S. Thompson, in his work ‘The Quacks of Old London’ (1928) quotes the poem in full, and talks further about the three notorious individuals. Of Sally Mapp, he writes: ‘Contemporary with Joanna Stephens was Mrs. Mapp, or “Crazy Sally” as she was popularly called, who was a highly successful bone-setter … She eventually settled at Epsom, where she practised her art and so gulled the people of that district in the belief of her powers as a bone-setter, that they raised a subscription to keep her among them. Here she flourished, and her fame extending to London many journeyed down from town to see ‘Crazy Sally’. Her strength was so great, she is said to have been able to reduce a dislocated shoulder without assistance … When in London, she made her headquarters at the Grecian Coffee-house, where she operated on her patients. In the Gentlemen’s Magazine October 1736, some surprising cures are related, which she is said to have performed before Sir Hans Sloane at the Grecian Coffee-house … Hogarth introduced her into his print “The Undertaker’s Arms or Consultation of Physicians,” where she is placed between two other notorious quacks of the time … Taylor and Ward … In the end, she took to drinking heavily and is said to have been rarely sober. Patients and friends alike began to fail her, thus she sank into poverty and died in miserable lodgings near the Seven Dials’ (ff. 299).
The imprint has sadly been cropped on the present example, though ESTC notes: ‘London:printed for J. Jones, and sold by the booksellers and pamphlet-shops in town and country, 1737’.

1870s. Large single sheet lithograph, somewhat crudely hand-coloured, sheet size 546 x 758 mm, image size 475 x 670mm; image within double-ruled black border, with central printed instructions; sheet has been folded into eight, leading to some general creasing and light wear along folds, three small wormholes, a number of small tears along main horizontal fold, some larger marginal nicks and tears, one along the right hand margin spanning about 7cms and touching the image though with no significant loss, some overall light foxing and soiling, but nevertheless an appealing and bright example. An appealing late 19^th century adaptation of the ever popular ‘game of goose’, here focusing upon European ‘railway mania’. As usual, the present game is comprised of 63 spaces, in a helical arrangement, with the central panel containing the rules. Based upon a train journey, every ninth square lands upon a station, with the other squares depicting locomotives (including the City of Strasbourg, City of Bordeaux, City of Marseille, and the Joan of Arc), wagons and tenders, points of interest along the route (including a water tower, a hydraulic pump, the guard tower), signalmen, railway points and interchanges, and a railway turntable. We see passengers buying tickets, and dining in the buffet car. Along the route, the traveller will pass through cuttings and over bridges, although the journey is not without incidence. Woe betide the player who lands on square 58 – the scene of a terrible and gory accident – an all too graphic reminder of the gruesome consequences of being run over by a locomotive.
According to a small note at the end of the central panel, the present example is based upon an idea by ‘M. Henry, Chef du mouvement au Chemin de Fer de Nancy à Sarrbruch [sic’.
Adrian Seville, in his Grolier Club exhibition of 2016 ‘The Royal Game of the Goose. 400 years of printed board games, notes a slightly earlier example issued by P. Didion, ‘Jeu des contes des fées’ (Game of Fairy Tales, exhibit 19), and which he included as being an example of provincial French production. He dates it originally to around 1860, but having been later reprinted.
‘The Game of the Goose (in French, the Jeu de l’oie) is one of the oldest known printed board games; early records of its existence in Italy date as far back as the late fifteenth century, and it appears in England as early as 1597. Like so many things, the jeu de l’oie can be played at multiple levels: children can play it to win, caring little for the journey which, like so many games of chance, requires no particular skill or talent. But, on another level, scholars mine the game for its cultural evidence, elements of social behaviour and historical cues’ (exhibition preface).
The University of Michigan appear to hold the same game, possibly an earlier variant, and which they date to 1850

1921. Together three offprints: 1. Large 4to, pp. 14; with four small text figures and graphs within text; light dampstain affecting fore-edge throughout, with horizontal fold caused by previous folding and which has led to some creasing along gutter, and small tear at upper margin of p. 6 due to rough opening; II. pp. 14, [2] blank; with two figures in text; light dampstaining to fore-edge; III. pp. 10, [1] blank, with two figures within the text; faint dampstain at gutter; I. stitched as issued in the original green wrappers, light dampstain to upper fore-edge, light browning and soiling along previous horizontal fold, with small tear to spine, fore-edge a little nicked and furled; a presentation copy signed on the upper wrapper to ‘Herr H. Bäckström’, believed to be the Swedish Professor of Geology at Stockholm University Helge Mattias Bäckström (1865-1932); II. stitched as issued in the original grey printed wrappers, light dampstain along fore-edge with some minor marginal nicking, and with presentation inscription on upper wrapper to ‘Herr H. Bäckström’; III. stapled in plain cream wrappers, a little creased, with faint dampstain at tail. Three scarce offprints, two of which are presentation copies to the renown Swedish professor of geology Helge Mattias Bäckström (1865-1932), by the noted, though little-known Swedish physicist Eva Ramstedt (1879-1974).
I. A presentation offprint highlighting her findings and observations on atmospheric electricity conducted whilst on the International expedition to study the 1914 total solar eclipse observed across many parts of northern Europe between August 20th and 21st. Her observations were part of a larger report ‘L'éclipse totale de soleil des 20-21 août 1914’ and appeared in Part V, No 1. Extensive preparations were made by various Scientific societies across Europe to observe the total eclipse of the sun, the track of which extended across Norway and Sweden, and across Russia from Riga through Minsk and Kiev to the Crimea. In addition to Swedish and Russian astronomers and scientists there were four British official expeditions and observers from Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US. Plans were severely curtailed, however, with the outbreak of war at the beginning of August, and which restricted in particular the movement of those expeditions hoping to view the eclipse near Kiev and Theodosia. For those fortunate to reach Sweden, and in particular Hernossand and Stromsund, conditions were particularly conducive for research and observation.
II. Presentation offprint, of this paper ‘On the diffusion of radium emission in water’, which first appeared in ‘Meddelanden från K. Vetenskapsakademiens NobelInstitut Band 5. No 5’, and reflecting her continued interest in the study of radioactivity, developed whilst a student at Marie Curie’s Radium Institute. Indeed between 1915 and 1932 she was associate professor in radiology at Stockholm University College.
III. Offprint, originally published in Tidskrift för elementär matematik, fysik och kemi, 4 (pp. 176-185), and discussing Francis William Aston’s pioneering work on mass spectrometry to identify different isotopes. Continuing on from research begun together with his professor J. J. Thomson, Aston built the first full functional mass spectrometer at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in 1919.
‘Eva Ramstedt grew up in a prominent and cultured family. She was educated in Stockholm... then at Uppsala University, where she presented a dissertation on behaviour of fluids. She studied radium decay products at Marie Curie’s laboratory during 1910-1911, finding that the behaviour of the solid products depended on the surface upon which they were collected, and that the solubility of radium emanation (radon) varied with the solvent used and the temperament. Also working at the Radium Institute was the Norwegian chemist Ellen Gleditsch, with whom Ramstedt later coauthored several works. Ramstedt returned to Sweden and worked at the Nobel Institute under Svanta Arrhenius, published ‘On the activity of the undissosociated molecule in ester catalysis’. She also measured atmospheric electricity while on an expedition to study the 1914 solar eclipse’ (Ogilvie II, p. 1071). As Rayner-Canham notes, ‘Just as Gleditsch was known only in her native Norway, so Eva Julia Augusta Ramstedt remains unknown outside Sweden... Ramstedt was chair of the International Federation of University Women from 1920 until 1946 and vice-chair of the corresponding Swedish organisation from 1920-1939. In recognition of her contributions to the study of radioactivity, the University of Stockholm awarded her a DSC in 1942’ (Rayner-Canham, A Devotion to their Science, Pioneer Women in Radioactivity, p. 125-6).

1807. Hand-coloured etched broadside with engraved text, sheet size 404 x 260mm; plate mark 280 x 215mm; image with 20 lines of lettering below including title and imprint; with the number ‘118’ in manuscript in upper right corner; some light browning and soiling; an appealing example. Striking hand-coloured etching by Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827), after a drawing by his friend and drinking companion, George Moutard Woodward (1795-1809), depicting an itinerant doctor, who by a subterfuge, cures an undergraduate hoaxer of his supposed maladies of lying and bad memory.
The etched image shows ‘the interior of an apothecary's room: jars on shelves; a counter with drawers, pestle and mortar, &c. A bust of Galen stands on the lintel of the door (r.). An alarmed undergraduate in cap and gown stands clasping his stomach. The doctor faces him triumphantly, with raised arms and holding a pill-box. His man, who wears an apron, walks off with a large box inscribed 'Anti-Fibbibus'. The (prose) inscription below the title relates that a 'College Wag' called on a 'travelling Empiric' and asked to be cured of a bad memory, and a habit of lying. He is cured by the 'gilded pill called - Pillula Memoria - Anti Fibbibus!!' The youth complains that he is poisoned with Asafœtida, the doctor answers that he speaks the truth and will never forget the medicine, so is cured’ (British Museum online).
Along with Hogarth, Gillray and Cruikshank, Thomas Rowlandson is at the uppermost peak of English satirical art. Amongst these masters, however, Rowlandson was the most gifted artist and his compositions always seemed the closest to the truth for he often lived the dissipated style of life he so memorably satirized. After studying in both Paris and London, Rowlandson began his career as a portrait painter. By 1782, however, he devoted himself almost exclusively to his first love; caricature and satirical art. After receiving a large inheritance, Thomas Rowlandson quickly gambled it away. After losing his fortune at a thirty-six hour card game he is known to have exclaimed, "I've played the fool, but (holding up his pencils) here is my resource." Working with such British publishers as Flores and Thomas Tegg, Thomas Rowlandson designed many memorable satires. Indeed this is one of a number of prints by Rowlandson published by Tegg in 1807 which are numbered in either top corner with a capital letter followed by a number, and occasionally another number in the opposite corner, each sheet with an illustration above either a song or prose text.
Rowlandson’s is best remembered however, for his collaboration with the famous London publisher, Rudolph Ackermann, to produce some of the finest satirical series in the history of art. These included The Microcosm of London (1808), the Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque (1812) and The English Dance of Death, published in two volumes in 1815 and 1816.

1837. 12mo, pp. 264; with 26 finely engraved plates (including 3 folding plates and one folding letterpress table, and one double-page table printed vertically within text); some light marginal foxing and browning throughout, with some occasional ink markings; first folding engraved ‘key’ table cropped close at head and tail and a little creased, two small nicks at tail of the folding map, touching image border but with no loss and fore-edge protuding slightly and a little furled; with old binder’s label at tail of front pastedown; in contemporary calf, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, spine slightly sunned, covers slightly scratched, extremities lightly rubbed and worn; an appealing copy. Scarce first edition of this attractive mnemonical treatise by the noted educationalist and author of several historical works, Mme Laure Boen de Saint-Ouen (1799-1838), in this instance providing a new and effective method of teaching ancient history.
Saint-Ouen had first employed her eye-catching pictorial system in 1822 in her ‘Tableaux mnémoniques de l’histoire de France’, using small emblems designed to represent significant events: for example a small upright chariot or ship signified a victory in battle, whilst an upside down equivalent depicted a loss. A sword represented an assassination, in contrast to an hour-glass signifying a natural death. Such was the success and positive reception to her 1822 work and this new and effective method of teaching history, that Saint-Ouen published a number of similar works, notably an extensive history of England (1825), as well as a history celebrating the life of Napoleon (1833).
In the present work, the first plate provides the key, with the second presenting the reader with a map of antiquity, together with a folding table providing a comparative chronology. The attractive plates that follow each include a medallion portrait of a significant personage from ancient history, together with an accompanying ‘mnemonic medallion’ comprising a combination of emblems symbolizing the events of their life. Throughout the work, Mme Saint-Ouen poses a number of exercises and questions to test the student.
Her novel method was described by contemporary reviewers as being ‘well-conceived and well executed’ and did much to revolutionise the way that history was taught in French elementary schools. Her initial plans to publish a series of European histories to include studies of Germany, Russia, and Spain, were curtailed by her untimely death.

1797. Two works in one volume, 4to; [vi], [3]-8; pp. [ii], 36, [4]; with woodcut printers device on title, and woodcut head-piece, folding letterpress table and extremely large folding hand-coloured engraved map, 25 x 150cms and signed ‘E. Akerland’; title-page of Dissertatio a little foxed with further light foxing; Afhandling lightly foxed and soiled, with dampstain affecting the upper corners between pp. 13-29; folding map neatly remounted on new stub; in modern marbled boards, with red morocco label on upper cover lettered in gilt, spine a little sunned, with light rubbing to extremities; a good copy. A bound volume containing both Schenström’s Latin dissertation ‘Dissertatio de canalibus et catarractis in Svecia generatim, speciatim vero Strömshomensibus’, together with the much expanded Swedish translation of the same year, and which graphically illustrates this feat of Swedish canal building engineering through the the finely engraved and extensive folding map, nearly one and a half metres long, and which shows the entire stretch of the structure.
Work on the 62 mile long canal, intended to facilitate the transport of iron bar produced by the numerous steel works along the waterway, began in 1772 and was based upon plans by Johan Ullström. He was commissioned by the State mining authority (the Bergskollegium) to plan its construction, and concluded that he could use and connect existing lakes and waterways from Norra Barken and Smedjebacken to lake Mälaren in the south, meaning that a section of only 10km would have to be excavated manually. The overall difference in height of the water level over the length of the canal is 100 metres, requiring boats to pass through 26 locks. Indeed the rise or fall at Hallstahammer is 50 metres.
Initially estimated to take six years, the project actually took eighteen years to complete, largely due to the lack of investors. It was finally opened in 1795, and for many years was one of the principal freight shipping waterways in Sweden, though eventually superseded by the building of the StockholmWästeras-Bergslagen railway, with the last cargo to be shipped by canal in 1948.

1906. Small folio, pp. 8; with 40 leaves of printed diagnostic charts, illustrating the same two images of a rear and front image of the body, each leaf serrated at gutter and designed to be torn off and completed by the physician, with blank lines are tail of each leaf for notes; in modern grey paper wrappers, stab sewn, retaining the original front printed grey wrapper and bound in, and with facsimile of original title-page mounted on upper cover; ex-libris for the Royal College of Surgeons, with stamp on original wrapper, title-page, and with two stamps on verso of each leaf of plates, dated 1906. Rare second edition of this unusual practical neurological aid, intended to be used ‘at the hospital bedside’ to help the segmental diagnosis of spinal column diseases for individual cases, and thus form part of a patients case notes file. After a brief introduction, the pamphlet is made up of 20 identical sets of detachable anterior and posterior outline sketches of the body, upon which the practitioner could mark the particular areas of sensitivity on the body. As the introduction notes: ‘The present scheme is intended to fill a gap in the series of schemes available so far. The latter dealt only with the boundaries of the peripheral nerve districts, which are known to be totally different from those of the spinal or root areas on the skin. These and other disadvantages, in particular the lack of sufficiently marked fixed points on the sink and the bone system, make the peripheral sensitivity schemes unsuitable for spinal purposes’ (google translation). Designed to be used and effectively destroyed, the survival of complete copies is therefore rare.
The work was first published in 1901, seemingly both separately, and as a journal article in the Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten. It was to prove popular with both a third and fourth editions appearing in 1911 and 1917.
Friedrich Wilhelm Seiffer (1872-1917) was a noted German neurologist and psychiatrist. He received his medical doctorate from Strasbourg in 1895 and subsequently worked at a private mental health institution in Pankow-Berlin. He subsequently worked at the psychiatric clinic of the Berlin-Charité. He was the author of further works on the general diagnosis and treatment of nervous diseases in 1902, and ‘Studies on the sense of vibration or the so-called ‘bone-sensitivity’’ in 1903, together with Rydel.

ca. 1968?.]. Offered together, 8vo pamphlet with tall broadside; 8vo, pp. 40; stapled as issued in the original printed wrappers in red and black; tall broadside, 354 x 215mm; printed in blue typescript on both sides; first side a little browned and sunned, more prominently along left margin, less prominent marginal browning on verso; good examples. Offered together, both the pamphlet and an accompanying broadsheet, of what was a controversial campaign denouncing sex education in schools as an anti-Christian Communist conspiracy. Written by Gordon V. Drake, the pamphlet was originally distributed as part of a direct mail campaign to drum up support to lobby against sex education in schools, and is considered to be one of the most widely circulated attacks on sex education in the 1960s. Apparently described by Time Magazine as ‘an angry little pamphlet’ (Time, July 25, 1969), the accompanying broadside also spares no punches. ‘And don’t kid yourself...it is a fact, that this over-all scheme to demoralize youth, repudiate the so-called ‘antiquated morals’ of Christianity, drive a cleavage between student and parents, and introduce to curious youth the abnormal in sex, is All part of a giant communist conspiracy’.
The broadside, as with the pamphlet, targets in particular the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and Dr. Mary Calderone, its National Director. A number of other physicians are cited, accused of being Communist sympathisers, namely Dr. Isadore Rubin of New York, and Elizabeth D. Koontz, President of the National Education Association. Schools in Anaheim, California, and in Jefferson County, Colorado, are single-out for criticism, as is Sweden - where sex education has been compulsory since 1956. ‘Today, the “venereal diseases” are running rampant through the school’.

1734. Six parts in one volume, 8vo; pp. [ii] engraved frontispiece portrait, [iv] general title-page and dedication, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, [5] - 16, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, [21] - 32, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, [37] - 64, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, [69] - 80, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, 85 - 96, [iv] engraved plate and separate title, [101] - 110, [2] index; in all six engraved plates; with woodcut initials, and head- and tail-pieces; some occasional light foxing and browning throughout, but otherwise good; in contemporary sheep backed sprinkled boards, spine ruled in black, head of spine chipped with some loss, with both joints somewhat cracked and worn, but holding firm, covers a little cockled and bumped, extremities lightly bumped, nevertheless an appealing copy. Rare first collected edition of this series of six natural history ‘specimens’ published between 1732 and 1734, by the German theologian, poet, and natural historian Heinrich Jakob Sivers (1708-1758), discussing in particular a number of recent fossil discoveries and notably his discovery of a stone, seemingly marked with musical notation, and which he discovered whilst walking along a beach near Niendorp on the Baltic coast.
Having studied theology at Rostock University, Sivers returned to his birthplace of Lübeck in 1731 where he was accepted as a candidate for the ministry. Having already made a name for himself as a poet in Rostock, Sivers was a keen natural scientist, and shortly after his arrival back in Lübeck he published a short treatise, Descriptio lapidis musicalis, echinitae cordati et stellinae marinae’ discussing his recent discovery of a rare fossil, or ‘musical stone’. The work was dedicated to the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and whilst perhaps sounding somewhat far fetched as a theory, was nevertheless well received, Sivers in fact being awarded membership of the Academy as a result, which prompted him to publish a series of further ‘Specimina curiosorum Niendorpensium’ in quick succession, providing descriptions of lapides stellares, belemnitae, and succina. Two further short essays were published in 1734, and all six have been collected together here under a general title-page, and although paginated continuously, each retain their own separate title-pages. The famous ‘musical stone’ is illustrated in the first of six, rather crudely executed and engraved plates, by S. F. Straube, with an engraved portrait of the author included as a frontispiece.
Whilst the Academy were supportive of his efforts, Sivers’ description of his ‘musical stone’ caught the barbed attention of fellow satirical poet, Christian Ludwig Liscow (1701-1760), however, who had already taken swipe at him for both an earlier theological work, as well as pervious attempts at satirical poetry. Liscow penned ‘Vitrea Fracta’ in 1732, ostensibly a translation of a letter from one Sir Robert Clifton to a correspondent on the Russian island of Novaya Zemlya regarding an apocalyptic image he has seen in a frozen window pane, but in reality a determined swipe at Sivers, thinly disguised as ‘Mr Makewind’, who maintains a ‘cabinet of rarities’, and is ridiculed for being accepted into the Academy of Sciences. The two became embroiled in a bitter dispute, and Sivers eventually left Lübeck in 1734, for Denmark, before moving to Sweden, where he continued to pen satirical verse, and other contributions to natural science, including a work on Swedish marble.
Whilst his dispute with Liscow seems to rather dominate German biographies of Sivers, and colour their opinion of him as something of a figure of ridicule, he was clearly held in high regard within Sweden where he was respected as a polymath and noted writer, and long time correspondent with Linnaeus. Indeed the Swedish sources make no mention of Liscow. His significance as a natural history collector seems to have been recognised later, with Aikin’s 1814 ‘General Biography’ noting that during 1734 ‘he made a tour to Denmark and Sweden, in order to collect objects for a museum of natural history which he had begun to form... Sivers was a man of considerable learning, and had a library, consisting of two thousand volumes, chiefly on theological and historical subjects. He possessed also a numerous collection of antiquities, natural productions, and various curiosities of art; but in 1737 had been obliged to sell to Count Charles Gyllenborg the half of his minerals, and a pretty large cabinet of Roman coins, which the Count afterwards bequeathed to the academy of Lund’ (vol IX, p. 161).

1882. Attractive oval softwood box, with attractive printed label on lid, box containing ca. 100 small multicoloured coated discs threaded onto small wax wicks, with some spare wax; aside from some slight staining label and underside of box, and small nick in lid a fine example. No doubt an extremely scarce ephemeral survivor. This appealing box, seemingly an almost full compliment, contains a number of small night lights, manufactured by the Nuremberg firm of Joh. Leonh. Backofen. The small and extremely decorative paper discs, have been coated, and possibly scented, and are each threaded onto a small strip of wax, and would be lit to provide comfort, and possibly to fill the air with soothing fragrances, to help sleep.
Johann Leonhard Backofen is listed in the 1870 Nürnberg-Fürther Industrie-Almanach as a nightlight manufacturer, with the 1905 Zeitscrift für angewandte Chemie referring to ‘Saturn für Nachtlichte’ made by Backofen.