Lucina sine concubitu. Lettre addressée à la Société royale de Londres, dans laquelle on prouve [...] qu’une femme peut concevoir, sans avoir de commerce avec aucun homme [trsl. after the 4th English ed.].

8vo: [16]-72 pp. (toned).

19th-c. green Jansenist morocco by Hardy, gilt titled spine, gilt sides, a.e.g., marbled endpapers, cloth marker. Good copy.

One of the clandestine reprints of the "scandalous" ironic treatise by the English scholar Hill (1714-1775), written in revenge for his rejection by the Royal Society. In "Pregnancy without intercourse" Hill claims that women can become pregnant without engaging in any kind of sexual activity. According to Hill, microscopic "animalcula" were present in the air, which at any time could find their way into a woman’s body and make her pregnant. These "animalcula" could be studied under microscope and already at this early stage of development they bore the shapes of men or women. Referring to his discovery, Hill thought it possible to rehabilitate the honour of the many women throughout history who had been unable to explain their pregancy.
Ref. ESTC T120326. - BGL II:917.
Joined: Roe, R. [= William Kendrick?] - Concubitus sine lucina, ou Plaisir sans peine. Réponse à la lettre intitulée Lucina sine concubitu. "A Londres", s.n., 1750. 8vo: 59-[1 bl.] pp. Mod. marbled wrappers. The reply by "Richard Roe". Translation of "A letter to Dr Abraham Johnson on the subject of his new scheme for the propagation of the human species". Ref. ESTC T117473. (2 vol.)