Manuel Des Bains De Mer.
Paris, [A. Guyot] for M.-C. Compère 1825.
12mo (144 x 92 mm.). Lithograph frontispiece of the Dieppe baths, 324p.
Contemporary gilt green morocco (Meslant, hinges rubbed) tooled in blind between the double-rule outer frame, corner ornaments, CENTRAL ARMS OF MARIE-CAROLINE DE BOURBON-SICILE, DUCHESSE DE BERRY (1798-1870), elaborately decorated spine, compartments tooled in blind with a small gilt bloom in the center of each, raised bands gilt-tooled, title gilt-lettered, board edges blind-rolled with gilt wave tools at the corners, gilt turn-ins, embossed yellow papier glacé endleaves, inner leather hinges, all edges gilt, silver silk marker.
First Edition. Enormously wealthy, politically powerful and a formidable art collector, the duchesse de Berry spent six summers (1824-9) at the Dieppe spa illustrated in the frontispiece and popularized sea-bathing among the rich and fashionable. Dr. Assegond addressed his work on balneotherapy to her, two-thirds of which describe the physical and chemical characteristics of saltwater, various bathing regimens including à la lame or sudden plunges. These he prescribed to relieve, i.a., fevers, rheumatism, menstrual irregularities, excessive(!) masturbation, chronic sinus congestion and scrofula. The final third analyzes sulfuric, acidic, ferruginous and saline mineral bath treatments and reviews forty watering places across Europe. A German translation quickly appeared and a revised second French edition not long after. Foxed, bookplates of Elzevier bibliographer Chas. Pieters (1782-1863), of the Merlin d’Estreux de Beaugrenier family and of the dedicatee.
¶Quérard, La France littéraire 1: 102-3; Callisen, Medicinisches Schriftsteller-Lexicon I: 263,1523a; Huessner, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de Feu M. Charles Pieters (1864) 1027 (this copy).
Price: $1,800.00