PHRENOLOGICAL

[ Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, phrenologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Spurzheim'), in English, to his landlord 'Mr Booth', regarding the possibility of his vacating his house early.

Author: 
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832), German phrenologist, developing the system of Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828), to whom he served as assistant
Publication details: 
'Friday Evening | 23. Foley Place. [ London ]'
£300.00

1p., small 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, with light signs of age. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with remains of red wax seal, to 'Mr Booth | Duke street'. It is his intention 'to go abroad and not to keep the house longer than Ii am obliged', so he asks Booth if he will 'put up a bill that the house is to be let. it is understood that, if no one will take it before february, I must pay the rent.' He asks if Booth knows 'any poor family in whom you have confidence and who would be glad to live in it till it is let again', suggesting 'the same family who was in it before me'.

[Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, German physician and celebrated phrenologist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Spurzheim.'), in English, to an unnamed woman, regarding his treatment, 'as friend and not a practioner', of 'our little patient'.

Author: 
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832), German physician, a leading proponent of phrenology
Publication details: 
No place or date. 'Sat. Mg.' [i.e. Saturday morning]
£350.00

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Refusing payment for his services, Spurzheim writes: 'Sat. Mg. | Dear Madam | We had agreed that I would give You my opinion as medical Man with the greatest pleasure as friend and not a practioner. I therefore take the liberty of returning the encolsed. I shall pass by to see our little patient on my way to Woodcroft.

[Phrenology in Manchester: Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, celebrated phrenologist.] Autograph Letter in the third person, in English, to 'Mr Sowler' [proprietor of the Manchester Courier], announcing postponement of lecture at Mechanics Institution.

Author: 
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832), German physician and celebrated phrenologist
Publication details: 
Without date or place [Manchester. Circa 1829 to 1830.]
£100.00

1p, 12mo. Written lengthwise on a single leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with strips of thick paper from mount adhering to the reverse, which carries Spurzheim's address to 'Mr Sowler | St Anns Square [Manchester]'. The recipient is Thomas Sowler the second, proprietor of the Manchester Courier, and father of Sir Thomas Sowler (1818-1891). The text reads: 'Dr.

[George Combe, Scottish lawyer and phrenologist.] Autograph Signature ('Geo. Combe') cut from a letter addressed to Andrew Carmichael

Author: 
George Combe (1788-1858), Scottish phrenologist and lawyer, founder of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£25.00

Irregular strip of paper, roughly 6 x 14 cm, one side bearing the valediction to a letter. In poor condition, aged and worn. Reads: 'With many thanks for your kind attention & with sincere regards, I remain | Sir | Your very Obedient Servant | Geo. Combe'. Crosswise on the reverse is part of Combe's addressing of the letter: 'Andrew Carmichael E[sq] | M. R. I. […] | [Pullis?] Ro[ad] | D[...]'.

[George Combe, founder of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Combe'), responding with outrage at his recipient's 'utterly vulgar' use of the word 'bump' in connection with phrenology.

Author: 
George Combe (1788-1858), Scottish phrenologist and lawyer, founder of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society
Publication details: 
Carlton House, New York; 14 December 1838.
£500.00

1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight use of archival paper, and thin strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse. A splendid explosion of outrage at his correspondent's use of the word 'bump'. The recipient is not identified.

[ Dr Edward Loftus Geall, phrenologist. ] Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'E. L. Geall'), one written on back of his pamphlet 'Some Objections to Phrenology Answered'. With a handbill advertisement for his Leicester Institute of Mental Science.

Author: 
Dr. Edward Loftus Geall, phrenologist, Principal of the Leicester Institute of Mental Science
Publication details: 
[ Leicester Institute of Mental Health. ] 53 Cromer Street, Leicester. Two of the letters from 1954 and one from 1955. The pamphlet by the Cobden Press, Leicester. [ 1953 ].
£200.00

The collection is in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Geall's pamphlet is 12pp., 12mo, and stapled. The only copies on OCLC WorldCat at Harvard Medical School and Cape Town. The back page carries a letter by Geall to an unnamed individual [ Marcus Adams ], dated 17 January 1954. The handbill advertisement for the Leicester Institute of Mental Science is 4pp., 12mo., on a bifolium. The other two letters, each on Geall's letterhead, are both 1p., 4to.

Autograph Signature ('Geo Combe') of the Scottish lawyer and phrenologist George Combe.

Author: 
George Combe [Comb] (1788-1858), Scottish lawyer, phrenologist and author
Publication details: 
Without place or date.
£25.00

On one side of a 5 x 8 cm piece of paper, cut from a letter, and backed with card. In good condition, lightly-aged, with the top two corners rounded. Reads: 'I am | Gentlemen | Your very obed Sert | [signed] Geo Combe'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Combe') to Messrs Bell & Bain, Printers, Exchange Court [Glasgow].

Author: 
George Combe (1788-1858), Scottish phrenologist
Publication details: 
20 April 1836; 81 Bath Street [Glasgow].
£95.00

8vo, 1 p. Addressed by Combe on the reverse, to which his monogram seal in red wax (with his motto 'RES NON VERBA QUAESO') still adheres. In poor condition, on discoloured paper, with damage to a few words of text above the signature caused by clumsy removal from the mount, a part of which still adheres to the reverse. Repaired with archival tape. The letter presumably concerns 'Additional testimonials on behalf of George Combe, as a candidate for the chair of logic in the University of Edinburgh' (1836). It reads 'Gentlemen | Be so good as correct these proofs, make them up in 8vo.

Autograph Letter 'To the Editor', entitled 'Phrenology', and signed 'Apollonius'.

Author: 
PHRENOLOGY [Wiveliscombe; Somerset Country Gazette]
Publication details: 
Wiveliscombe Decr 18th, 1840'.
£65.00

Two pages, quarto. On a discoloured piece of brittle, thin wove paper, with some fraying, several closed tears and a little loss (affecting three words). A long, able and closely-written defence of the discipline. '[...] | X appears decidedly opposed to an alarmed at the science, and feels himself awfully degraded with the comparisons drawn by Phrenologists between the human species and the lower animals - that they should exist, breathe, and partake of, in a limited degree, corresponding qualities with the human race.

Amativeness: or, evils and remedies of excessive and perverted sexuality; including warning and advice to the married and single.

Author: 
O. S. Fowler
Publication details: 
John Heywood, Deansgate and Ridgefield, Manchester; and 11, Paternoster Buildings, 1884.
£36.00

Thirty-two pages. Octavo. In original light-blue illustrated printed wraps. A scarce item, in frail condition, with the wraps worn, spotted and frayed, particularly at the spine. Closed tears to reverse of wraps, which is stamped 'MAY BE HAD OF J.S. CROPLEY, WINDSOR'. Rust staining from staples. Internally sound, tight and generally clean, with bottom outside corner dogeared. Ownership inscription of Tom Rowland Kent.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George Combe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

Victorian phrenologist (1788-1858) and natural philosopher. Paper dimensions roughly seven and a half inches by three inches. Folded four times. Good, but worn and with some loss to bottom corners from previous mounting. Reads 'I am | My dear Sir | Yours most truly | Geo: Combe | If you see Mr. <?> at the meeting put this letter into his hands, lest I should not see him before it. | [signed] G C'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
George Combe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Victorian phrenologist (1788-1858) and natural philosopher. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a quarter. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of lilac paper. Crease line affecting first line of text. Reads 'I am | My dear Major Mair | Very truly yours | Geo. Combe'. Docketed in pencil at foot by Dame Sarah Elizabeth Siddons Mair (died 1941) '(Phrenologist) | Written to my Father - S. E. S. M.'

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