Live auction - Lot 640

How to become a centenarian

[Medicine - Hygiene]

Traité d'hygiène [- Supplement au Traité d'hygiene].

[Belgium?, c. 1810]


Hammer price: € 120

€ 150 / 200

Live bidding (Drouot*) Live bidding (Invaluable*)

Bidding is closed


Lot description

8vo: [4]-110-[6 bl.]-[6]-53 pp., in French, brown ink on wove paper, pencil ruling (cut shaving the pagination, occ. light soiling, pencil annot. p. 87).

Half brown sheep, brown paper on boards, gilt-filleted spine, red title-label (split joints, used and bumped corners). Int. very fresh.

Treatise composed mainly but not only of large extracts from a compilation by Louis Odier: "Principes d'hygiène: extraits du Code de santé et de longue vie, de Sir John Sinclair, Bart." (Geneva, 1810). Fascinating work focusing in particular on the impact of hygene on longevity, quoting numerous examples from ancient texts and travel accounts. The author also mentions (p. 87) examples of old physicians known to him and located in Flanders ("Le medecin Daman de Gand avait près de 90 ans à sa mort, le méd.n Soupart près de 100 [...]; a marg. note adds a few examples: "mon pere 86. Wauters 80 [...]"). Among the "causes de destruction" of health: "mauvaise education", "moeurs corrompues", "nourriture trop succulente et souvent dereglée", "usage [...] des liqueurs fermentées", "habitude de se tenir dans des maisons trop chaudes", "manque d'exercice régulier", "exhalaisons pernicieuses des grandes villes", "climats malsains", etc. It sounds curiously modern! Enriched with a lith. diagram on laid paper (flyleaf).

More photos

Live bidding

Bidding is closed


Lot 640

How to become a centenarian

Traité d'hygiène [- Supplement au Traité d'hygiene].

Please log in to bid
create an account here .
Log in
© Arenberg Auctions 2024 – Webdesign Webit
Voorwaarden | Privacy Policy | Cookiebeleid