Wednesday, August 22, 2012

On the Philosophy of Charming

John B. Newman. Fascination, or the Philosophy of Charming; Illustrating the Principles of Life in Connection with Spirit and Matter. (New York: Fowler & Wells, 1885).


Here's a lovely little volume for my phrenological friends. It was published by Fowler & Wells of New York. The publishing firm was founded by two brothers, Lorenzo N. and Orson S. Fowler (who championed the cause of phrenology when it was introduced to America by Dr. Johann Spurzheim in 1832) and they were later joined by Samuel Wells, who abandoned his medical career and married the brothers' sister Charlotte.

The inside front cover bears a bookplate "From Dr. F. B. Smith's Medical Library."


The table of contents is very descriptive in its detail, a characteristic of older books that I enjoy very much.





The book is a collection of conversations between a "doctor" and a "lady." There are 176 pages of text followed by 16 pages of publisher's advertisements, which are very interesting in themselves and will no doubt lead me further into related topics.


I will continue in a later post when I finish reading, and share some interesting passages with you. There are two copies in the Internet Archive in case you want to explore this book for yourself.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comments are encouraged. Comment moderation is in effect only for posts older than 7 days.