Aristotle - Aristotle's compleat master piece - 1772

"Aristotle's compleat master piece was the most popular book on the female body, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and the United States from its first appearance in 1684 until at least the 1870s. More than 250 editions are known, but all are very rare. It was sold furtively by country peddlers and in stores and taverns in general; regular booksellers rarely advertised it, though they usually kept it under the counter" - The Library Company of Philadelphia, «Treasures», online catalog.

"The master work of Aristotle, which is largely a compendium of knowledge about reproduction, also contained a prescriptive message about sexuality: sexual pleasure, for both men and women, was not only desirable but also necessary for conception" - D'Emilio and Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America.

This important and controversial work is a manual of sex and popular medicine written in the early eighteenth century that of course had enormous success and numerous reprints. It deals with the human body, with particular attention to sexual functions and practices. It contains a complete description of the reproductive organs and how to use them, sexual desire, pregnancy, and childbirth. It provides numerous recipes for medicines and advice to midwives with a monthly guide for pregnancy. For years it was the only text available that spoke frankly about sexual practices. The treatise is anonymous, although it is believed it may have been written by the empirical physician William Salmon (1644-1713). The fiction of Aristotle as author in the title gave it an aura of respectability and amplified its rapid spread. Being a controversial and even "dangerous" book, the publisher omits the places where the book can be purchased, reflecting a hazy "Sold by all other Booksellers".

Early and extremely rare edition, printed in London in the year 1772, of the controversial "Master Piece of Aristotle". 4 works in one volume, 3 of them with their own covers:

• Aristotle's compleat master piece. London: 1772
• Aristotle's compleat and experienc'd midwife: in two parts: I. a guide for child-bearing women, in the time of their conception, bearing and suckling their children: with the best means of helping them, both in natural and unnatural labours: together with suitable remedies for the various indispositions of newborn infants: II. proper and safe remedies for curing all those distempers that are incident to the female sex: and more especially those that are any obstruction to bearing children: a work far more complete than any yet extant, and highly necessary for all surgeons, midwives, nurses, and child-bearing women. The Twelfth Edition. London: Printed and sold by the Booksellers. No title on the cover. Own pagination.

3. [Aristotle's book of problems, with other astronomers, astrologers, physicians, and philosophers, wherein is contained divers questions and answers touching the state of man's body]. Frontispiece. No title page. Own pagination. Contains the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata, together with the Problemata of two other authors

4. Aristotle's last legacy unfolding the mysteries of nature in the generation of man: treating I. Of virginity, ... IX. Excellent remedies against all diseases incident to virgins and child bearing women. London: printed for L. Hawes, etc., 1773. Frontispiece + title page dated 1773. Own pagination.


Ref. librería: C953901050875