Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$260.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Phrenological Illustrations, or an Artist's View of the Craniological System of Doctors Gall and Spurzheim, George Cruikshank, London, 1827, 15.5 x 11 inches, unpaginated w/ 6 plates. Pictorial wrappers; four pages of text and six plates with tissue guards, bound with tape; all plates present; pages heavily worn to edges, moderately toned; all pages lightly foxed; edges, especially fore-edge, moderately soiled; good condition. This is a second edition, published in 1827 and sold by J. Robins and Co. Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row; S. Knights, Sweeting's Alley, Royal Exchange; and G. Humphrey, 24, St. James's Street. Contains four preliminary pages and six plates, which all have tissue guards. This book satirizes the pseudoscience of phrenology, the study of the shape and features of the human skull to explain a person's behavior, personality and other mental traits. Each engraving represents an area of the brain responsible for a different behavior or trait. Phrenology was developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, and it remained influential until around 1840; the term itself was popularized by Gall's colleague Johann Gaspar Spurzheim. George Cruikshank (1792-1878) was a renowned British caricaturist and book illustrator, considered the "modern Hogarth" of his time. He illustrated books for his friend Charles Dickens and many other notable authors, and by 1835 was considered the most important graphic artist in England.
Seller: Stellar Books & Ephemera, ABAA, Moab, UT, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue, oblong folio, engraved title page and 6 engraved plates showing 35 illustrations by Cruikshank; original printed brown wrappers; edges curled and with chips, the plates slightly spotted. Inserted at the front is an 4-page octavo catalogue of "New Publications," as issued. The book was issued with the plates plain (as here), colored, or with India proofs. The first issue has tissue guards watermarked with "S.O. 1823", 4 of the plates watermarked "Whatman 1827," and with the ad on the back wrapper reading: "Lately Published. Phrenological Publications . At the latter end of the year will be published four or six prints." Cohen 179: "The book was frequently reissued."
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$1046.96 + shipping
Description: Due album rilegati in un volume in folio oblungo ( 375 x 270 mm), frontespizio illustrato, 6 tavole incise f.t., frontespizio, 6 tavole incise f.t. Brossure editoriali conservate, tela moderna con titolo in oro su tassello in pelle al piatto superiore. Per un breve periodo nel 1826, George Cruickshank, già un artista affermato nella satira politica e nell'illustrazione di libri, si dedicò alla frenologia. Ha prodotto una raccolta di sei tavole di 33 incisioni, collegate da una prefazione esplicativa, sotto il titolo, Illustrazioni frenologiche o visione d'artista del sistema craniologico dei dottori Gall e Spurzheim. Fu pubblicato durante quella che in Gran Bretagna è considerata "la mania frenologica". Nel 1873, mentre la frenologia stava passando dalla credibilità scientifica alla storia, le illustrazioni frenologiche di Cruickshank furono ristampate a grande richiesta. Di particolare interesse i modi e la misura in cui le sue caricature costituiscono un contributo alla storia della frenologia. Rivelano una sorprendente conoscenza della frenologia in relazione a Spurzheim e Gall. Queste illustrazioni di George Cruickshank sono una satira sulla frenologia o sulla natura umana?
Seller: LIBRERIA XODO, Torino, Italy
Price: US$1800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Second edition. Oblong folio, [2]pp, text plus six leaves of coloured engraved illustrations, original wrappers
Seller: Far Eastern Booksellers / Kyokuto Shoten, Tokyo, Japan