[Rarebooks] FS: Watts' "Defense Against the Temptation of Self-Murther" (i.e. don't kill yourself) London: 1726

[karmbooks at aol.com]

Watts, Isaac. A DEFENSE AGAINST THE TEMPTATION OF SELF-MURTHER. Wherein
the Criminal Nature and Guilt of It Are Display'd... Advice Is Proposed
to Those Who Are Tempted, and to Those Who Have Been Deliver'd from
This Temptation. Together with Some Reflections on Excess in Strong
Liquors, Duelling, and Other Practices Akin to This Heinous Sin.
London: Printed for J. Clark and R. Hett, E. Matthews, and R. Ford.
1726. First edition. 12mo. xii,142pp. Plus (2)pp. publisher's ads.
Cont. calf, blind tooled floral border, rebacked. A very nice copy. 
Several ownership
signatures on preliminary blanks, including Lloyd Vernon Biggs,
president of the American Psychiatric Association in the early 1920s.
Scarce. $1,000.00 (trade discount allowed)
Watts, despite his strong condemnation of suicide, was one of the first
to recognize it as a new "modern" phenomenon that had to be dealt with
in an analytical manner.

Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, Inc.
P.O. Box 464
Santa Monica, CA 90406
Tel. (310) 451-4342; Fax. (310) 458-5930
Email: karmbooks at aol.com