[Rarebooks] fa: JOHN HUNTER - OBSERVATIONS ON CERTAIN PARTS OF ANIMAL OECONOMY 1786 + PLATE VOLUME from THE WORKS

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, two works by Hunter, auctions ending Sunday, Feb. 2. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/7cy66kw

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

John Hunter: Observations on Certain Parts of the Animal Oeconomy. London: Sold at no. 13, Castle-Street, Leicester-Square, 1786. FIRST EDITION. Large 4to (29 x 23cm) in original plain boards as issued, rebacked to style, printed paper spine label; [6],43,[3],225,[1]pp.; 18 engraved plates. Wellcome III p.317; ESTC T54043.
Contains some of Hunter's earliest and most important treatises, including his two groundbreaking works on hermaphrodism ("An Account of the Free-martin" and "An Account of an Extraordinary Pheasant"), "Proposals for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned", his studies of digestion and the placenta, "An Account of the Organ of Hearing in Fishes," etc. Dedicated to his friend and patron Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, Hunter's Observations "gathered together his myriad investigations on every aspect of life, from his dissections of beetles, bees, and caterpillars to his discovery of the nerves of smell, the mode of descent of the testes, and his proposals for saving the drowned, all with exquisite illustrations by [Jan] van Rymsdyk [and William Bell]" (Wendy Moore: The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery; Broadway Books, 2005).
Original boards rather soiled and bumped at the corners, as is to be expected; scattered foxing to the plates and the preliminary leaves, some dampstaining to the top of the first ten plates; closed tear to the top of the dedication leaf, one text leaf with a discreet perforated library stamp in the bottom margin (no other markings), a few stray  spots of soiling, otherwise text is exceedingly bright and fresh; contents sound and firmly bound. Front paste-down with a small bookseller's label and the engraved bookplate of James D. Gaff.


John Hunter: The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S. … Plates. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, 1837. First edition thus. Tall 4to (28 cm; 11.25 in) bound in recent cloth and paper-covered boards with gilt-stamped leather spine label; 27,[1] pp.; engraved frontispiece and 61 leaves of plates (there are two leaves numbered XXV), 8 of which are fold-outs.
The elusive volume of plates meant to accompany the four text volumes of Hunter's collected Works, published 1835-37. Plates show occasional scattered spotting, mild toning; two or three of the large folding plates (up to 84 cm/33 in. long) have short closed tears at the folds or edges, one folding plate with wear and soiling to the fore-edge (not affecting image); text leaves mildly toned, with some scattered spotting to one and a short edge-tear to another; title-page with a ragged tear and chip from the upper corner, both professionally repaired, and with the ownership signatures of what are presumably two generations of Chicago physicians, Charles A.[?] and Charles H. Parkes, dated 1888 and 1900, respectively; otherwise contents are clean and sound and firmly bound in a fresh, handsome modern binding.

John Hunter (1728-1793) was the foremost surgeon and anatomist of his time. He transformed surgery from a craft into a science, inaugurated scientific dentistry in Britain, discovered innovative techniques for treating aneurysms, founded the Hunterian Museum, and was an outstanding orthopedic surgeon. In addition, his lifelong study of comparative anatomy and the beginnings of life led him to promote revolutionary, even heretical, views that were clear precursors of Darwin's theories of evolution.