The National Funeral Directors' Official Text Book, Embracing: a Dictionary of Pharmaceutical Science with a Concise Explanation of the Various Subjects and Terms of Pharmacy, Anatomy, Physiology and Chemistry ...
Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, Printers and Binders [for] Funeral Directors Association of the United States and Canada, 1887. Second Edition. Hardcover. Small 4to. Pp. [2], 3-600. Color anatomical plate with tissue guard serves as the frontis. Illustrated throughout with six chromolithographic plates depicting human anatomy, with tissue guards, along with black-and-white textual illustrations. The "Lexicon" is a substantial glossary in two sections. Bibliography. Index. Decorated endpapers. Bound in decorated brown cloth with blindstamp lettering on front board, gilt lettering on spine. Near Fine. Item #6985 Of 19th century embalmer guides, this is the most detailed we've seen. In addition to providing medical science of the 1880s (some of which appears dubious to this cataloger), the text covers modes of disposal of the dead throughout the world's cultures, proofs of death, aspects of poison and its efficacy, autopsy, embalming, etc. The book's remarkable condition would suggest that this copy was never put to use, unless utilized by a remarkably fastidious practitioner. Perhaps most appealing is the dedication page. “To the Memory of the Unknown Embalmer,” which presents an intriguing depiction of Ramses II with his extended neck wrapped in gauze. Scarce.
[Title Continues] " ... So Far as They Apply to the Preservation of the Human Body, with All the Methods in Use for the Preservation of the Dead Throughout the World" and a supratitle states "Pharmaceutical, Anatomical and Chemical Lexicon."
Price: $750.00