The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton
Eighth edition of the first psychiatric encyclopedia, citing nearly 500 medical authors, and also a literary tour de force (Garrison-Morton 4918.1). This copy belonged to the US founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Hopkinson, with his personal bookplate affixed to the front endpaper. The eighth edition was the final seventeenth century edition, the next being published in 1800. With the original half title, 'the argument of the frontispiece' to its verso, an engraved title page and the scarce publisher's advertisements leaf. Finely bound in paneled speckled calf with gilt tooling and decorations.
London: R.W. for Peter Parker, 1676. Small folio, modern paneled speckled calf with gilt tooling and floral sprays to covers, seven raised bands to spine, decorated and ruled in gilt, calf spine label lettered in gilt; (viii), 434, [8 index], [2 ads], blank. New pastedowns and endpapers, with Hopkinson's bookplate re-adhered to the new front pastedown. Binding remains firm and sturdy. Minimal shelfwear to covers with a small dent to the back cover and a small spot of rubbing to one spine band. Owner's signature to title page with details and the date of purchase to the final blank, scattered foxing and browning, mostly to the first few pages, a couple small burn marks and chips to a few pages. With a page of eighteenth century notes in Latin laid in. Overall, a really quite beautiful copy.