[Rarebooks] FS: The First Book on Tatooing & Body Mutilation, 1653

[charles agvent]

             One of a number of early printed titles, many 
illustrated, in our New York Book Fair catalogue to be posted to our 
home page early next week.

               B.,   J.  [BULWER,   John].  ANTHROPOMETAMORPHOSIS:  MAN
          TRANSFORM'D  :  OR,  THE ARTIFICIALL  CHANGLING  HISTORICALLY
          PRESENTED....  London: William Hunt 1653. Second Edition.  IN
          THE MAD  AND  CRUELL GALLANTRY, FOOLISH  BRAVERY,  RIDICULOUS
          BEAUTY,  FILTHY  FINENESSE, AND LOATHSOME LOVELINESS OF  MOST
          NATIONS,  FASHIONING AND ALTERING THEIR BODIES FROM THE  MOLD
          INTENDED  BY NATURE; WITH FIGURES OF THOSE  TRANSFIGURATIONS.
          TO WHICH  ARTIFICIALL  AND AFFECTED DEFORMATIONS  ARE  ADDED,
          ALL THE   NATIVE  AND  NATIONALL   MONSTROSITIES  THAT   HAVE
          APPEARED  TO DISFIGURE THE HUMANE FABRICK. WITH A VINDICATION
          OF THE  REGULAR BEAUTY AND HONESTY OF NATURE. AND AN APPENDIX
          OF THE  PEDIGREE  OF  THE ENGLISH GALLANT.  Quarto  (5-1/2" x
          7-1/4")  bound  in early calf with a recent calf  spine;  [50
          (of 52)],  559, [31] pages. Lacks the frontispiece, as in the
          Wing copy  (B5461), leaf A1 (The Intent of the Frontispiece),
          and the  portrait.  The  Table leaf is bound with  the  extra
          leaf containing    three  engravings  between   S2  and   S3.
          Illustrated with 174 engravings in the text. Pforzheimer 115:
          "The subject   and  abundant  illustrations   ...  make  it a
          desideratum  in  any collection of curiosa, for it  describes
          and illustrates  every  conceivable alteration of  the  human
          body by  man's  design or by nature and is of equal  interest
          to the  anthropologist  and the student of human  credulity";
          Welcome  I,  270. Considered to be THE EARLIEST BOOK  ON  THE
          ART OF  THE TATOO AND OTHER FORMS OF BODY MUTILATION. It is a
          combination  of fiction and fact, ancient and modern, brought
          back to  England by early world travelers. The First  Edition
          of 1650  was smaller (a duodecimo) and not illustrated.  Very
          Good copy of a most interesting title.               $7500

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CHARLES AGVENT
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