Library Company of Philadelphia
This title page stole our hearts with its lovely swirling font and charming silhouette #TitlePageAppreciation
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 7:
We had so much fun participating in this challenge! Thanks for joining us!
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 6:
Herbert, Henry W.
The sportsman’s vade mecum. New York : Stringer & Townsend.
1850.
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 5:
Pinkerton, Allan.
The Expressman and the Detective. Chicago : W. B. Keen, Cooke & Co.
1875.
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 4:
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 3:
Beecher, Lyman. Views in theology. Cincinnati : Truman and Smith. 1836.
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 2:
We were challenged by the American Antiquarian Society to post seven days of #bookcovers without explanation or review.
Day 1:
Stockton, Frank Richard. Ting-a-ling. New York : Hurd and Houghton. 1870.
The cherub and snail duo on our copy of George Allen’s The Life of Philidor (New York, 1865) is bringing some joy to our #PublishersBindingThursday. We love the appropriately tiny scale of this whimsical gold-stamped decoration.
Allen, George. The life of Philidor, musician and chess-player.
New York : F. Leypoldt. 1865.
Aristotle’s Masterpiece was the most popular book about women’s bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s. More than 250 editions are known, but all are very rare, and the Library Company’s 55 editions amount to perhaps the largest collection in America.
Aristotle’s Masterpiece was not written by Aristotle the ancient Greek philosopher; it was assembled from a number of popular medical works by an unknown writer. It is a bizarre assortment of superstition, folklore, and sex facts and fancies, all mixed in with the sort of common-sense medical advice that had been passed down by midwives for centuries. The text changed very little over the years, but it was often rearranged, as historian Mary Fissell has noted, like a reshuffled deck of cards.
We love the ribbon-embossed cloth binding and simple gold-blocked title on our copy of this 1830 edition of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. #PublishersBindingThursday
Read more about Aristotle’s Masterpiece here.