Hardcover (Full Leather)
1706 · London
by Duncan, Dr. (Daniel)
London: H. Rhodes, 1706. First Edition. Hardcover (Full Leather). Very Good Condition. Contemporary paneled calf, rebacked. Pages browned, heavily at the edges towards the beginning and endpapers, foxing, dampstain to bottom quarter of final 40 or so pages. (8), 240pp. Simon, BG 534, Cagle 655, Noling 140.
First English edition from the French the year previous. Generally a long treatise on the virtues of moderation in hot beverages, and describing the negative effects of abuse. His argument is complex, but much of it rests on the idea that overheating the body with hot liquids has much the same effect as being feverish or having a hot temper ("Hot Men do not live as long as those of a cool temperment") or, by extension, setting oneself on fire. "When fire takes hold of the body it quickly destroys it." Much talk of humoral theories and organ function, some astrology. "In what State soever you be, Abstinence will never do you hurt...The heat of your entrails not being employed to boil the nutriment which you do not receive, melts away the glue from your stomache if there be any, digests crudities and converts them into good humours".
Provenance: John Coakley Lettsom's copy with his (rubbed and worn) bookplate inside the front cover. Lettsom was a prominent physician, Quaker, and abolitionist. He was an outspoken critic of intemperance and a close friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin. A really nice association of important figures in two generations of the temperance movement. Size: 8vo. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Cooking, Wine & Dining; Inventory No: CAT000861. (Inventory #: CAT000861)
First English edition from the French the year previous. Generally a long treatise on the virtues of moderation in hot beverages, and describing the negative effects of abuse. His argument is complex, but much of it rests on the idea that overheating the body with hot liquids has much the same effect as being feverish or having a hot temper ("Hot Men do not live as long as those of a cool temperment") or, by extension, setting oneself on fire. "When fire takes hold of the body it quickly destroys it." Much talk of humoral theories and organ function, some astrology. "In what State soever you be, Abstinence will never do you hurt...The heat of your entrails not being employed to boil the nutriment which you do not receive, melts away the glue from your stomache if there be any, digests crudities and converts them into good humours".
Provenance: John Coakley Lettsom's copy with his (rubbed and worn) bookplate inside the front cover. Lettsom was a prominent physician, Quaker, and abolitionist. He was an outspoken critic of intemperance and a close friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin. A really nice association of important figures in two generations of the temperance movement. Size: 8vo. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Cooking, Wine & Dining; Inventory No: CAT000861. (Inventory #: CAT000861)
(617) 323-2919
