[Rarebooks] fs: Baby, You make me BURN... Spontaneous Human Combustion

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

Two interesting books on the burning issue
of Spontaneous Human Combustion...


Lair, Pierre-Aime. ESSAI SUR LES COMBUSTIONS HUMAINES, produits par un long 
abus des liqueurs spiritueuses. Paris; Chez Gabon: 1800. An early 
discussion of Spontaneous Human Combustion, citing various cases such as 
that of the Countess Bandi. Lair appears to have drawn much of his material 
from period journals such as the Annual Register and the Memoirs of the 
Royal Society; he also quotes from Le Cat. He supports the then-prevalent 
view that the phenomena was linked to excessive, prolonged alcohol abuse. 
There was another edition in 1823. OCLC locates 14 listings for this 
edition. Softcover. 4.5"x7", 100 pages, bound in newer plain paper covers; 
a nice, clan, wide-margined copy. [03574] $1,200.00


Oliver, John Rathbone. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. A Literary Curiosity. 
Chicago; The Argus Book Shop: 1937. Edition limited to 350 copies. An odd 
and engaging discussion of the literature concerning spontaneous human 
combustion, taking as it start a controversial episode of this phenomena in 
Charles Dickens' "Bleak House". Dickens insisted that he was simply 
describing a natural phenomenon which he had read about in medical 
journals, and Oliver examines this assertion, examining three older books- 
Dutch, German and French, written between 1757 and 1805 which deal with 
spontaneous combustion, as well as other 19th century periodical 
appearances. Not a book for the queasy. Hardcover. 6"x9", 27 pages, 4 b/w 
plates; slight cover soil; spine covering perished, as is so often seen 
with this book. [03390] $125.00




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