440C Digby, Sir Kenelm. (1603-1665) Two treatises: in the one of which, the nature of bodies; in the other, the nature of mans soule is looked into: in way of discovery of the immortality of reasonable soules.

London: Printed for John Williams, and are to be sold at the Crown in S. Pauls Church-yard, 1665

$2,200

Quarto in 8’s, 7.3 x 5.5 in. Fourth edition. A8, B4, (*)4, *4, **4, ***4, A-T8,V4, Aa-Hh8, Ii6, Aaa-Ggg8, (Hhh)-(Lll)4. Ten small woodcut and metal rule diagrams are printed in the text. The portrait frontispiece of Digby has been trimmed and has a paper repair. This copy is bound in contemporary calfskin. It bears an armorial crest on both boards executed in gilt. A red label is pasted on the spine. The contents are in good condition throughout.

“Digby’s Two Treatises is a landmark work in several fields of early science. It is the first fully developed expression of atomism or corpuscular theory, the first important defense of Harvey on the circulation in English, a modern presentation of the nervous system predating Descartes, and a groundbreaking work in embryology. It also contains the first recorded patch-test for allergy; the fullest early account in English of teaching lip-reading, and material on conditioning anticipating Pavlov.” (DSB)

“Digby was one of the gentleman scientists of the seventeenth century who observed, recorded and tried to explain all natural phenomena which came their way. In their writings may be found observations and discussions of medical and psychological topics tucked away in unexpected contexts and therefore not linked with later formal investigations, theories and discoveries of which they were often forerunners and which they occasionally even anticipated. To this category belong the four psychological observations selected here from Digby’s works.” (Hunter and MacAlpine)

Wing D-1451