Observations on the Deranged Manifestations of the Mind, or Insanity
by SPURZHEIM, J.G
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
Glendale, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
First edition copy. London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1817. 1st Edition. viii+312pp. + 4 copper plates. Contemporary 1/2 calf with marbled boards and gilt spine. Corners repaired, rebacked (some time ago) with original spine laid-down, light browning and foxing, hinges cracked, A very good copy. First edition of Spurzheim s influential work on insanity, advocating for better understanding and treatment of mental disorders, illustrated with four engraved plates. Spurzheim and his mentor Franz Gall developed the system of phrenology. While it has long been discredited, it was, at the turn of the 19th century, "the first psychological framework within which mad-doctors struggling unguided with their patients could understand insane behavior and so give a powerful fillip to the psychological approach. For the first time it became meaningful to get to know patients as persons if only to be able to interpret bumps on their heads" (Hunter & Macalpine, 714). In this work, Spurzheim "applied phrenology to psychiatry" (DSB 12:597); on the whole, however, "the book… is not grounded on phrenology to the extent that most of its views need to be rejected. Spurzheim has, for his time, many important things to say about how insanity and the insane should be treated, as well as grim accounts of how it and the insane are treated" (Adams, Blake's Margins, 142). Poet and painter William Blake read and annotated Spurzheim's text, taking exception to the scientist's description of ecstaic religion as a "fertile cause of insanity": "In his annotations, Blake answers… that the kind of religious 'madness' described is to be preferred as 'a refuge from unbelief,' i.e., the deadness of rationalism and Deism" (Rix, William Blake and the Cultures of Radical Christianity, 18). Spurzheim played a large part in establishing phrenology's influence in early American psychiatry; doctors and such "outstanding citizens" as Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe and James Garfield alike "were enthusiastic about phrenology" (Alexander & Selesnick, 125).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Reginald C. Williams Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 086
- Title
- Observations on the Deranged Manifestations of the Mind, or Insanity
- Author
- SPURZHEIM, J.G
- Format/Binding
- Contemporary leather over boards
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Baldwin, Cradock & Joy
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1817
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Medicine, Biology, Science
- Bookseller catalogs
- Psychology & The Occult;
- Size
- 8vo
Terms of Sale
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
Biblio member since 2021
Glendale, California
About Reginald C. Williams Rare Books
Reginald C. Williams Rare Books LLC, specializes in books from the 16th through 20th century. We stock many books in the field of literature, Western philosophy, Greek classics, the history of ideas, Medicine & Science & fine sets. We are always looking to purchase individual books in our areas of interest.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cracked
- In reference to a hinge or a book's binding, means that the glue which holds the opposing leaves has allowed them to separate,...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Marbled boards
- ...
- Bumps
- Indicates that the affected part of the book has been impacted in such a way so as to cause a flattening, indention, or light...