The Great Importance and Proper Method of Cultivating and Curing Rhubarb in Britain,

gold medal-winning work

First and only edition of this charming work on the medical preparation of rhubarb. Uncommon, with only ten institutional copies located by WorldCat and one in auction records. With the loosely inserted bookplate of Herbert Charles Pollitt (1871-1942), the well-known Decadent who was a friend of Aubrey Beardsley and briefly the lover of Aleister Crowley.

William Fordyce (1724-1792) was born in Aberdeen, educated in Edinburgh, and practised in London, becoming a highly respected physician. His publications, 'especially A New Inquiry into the Causes, Symptoms, and Cure of Putrid and Inflammatory Fevers (1773), extended his fame, and he was sent for from as far afield as Naples and Switzerland, becoming one of the most wealthy physicians of his time. His medical skill and knowledge were considerable, as testified by his works, some of which went through numerous editions. The Society of Arts voted him a gold medal for his work, The Great Important and Proper Method of Cultivating and Curing Rhubarb in Britain for Medical Uses (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

First edition; 8vo; loosely inserted 20th-century bookplate, ink stamp of the Royal Institution of South Wales on the verso of the title, small contemporary manuscript note in the margin of page 18, two small, unobtrusive wormholes in the lower margins throughout, small tear from the corner of A4 not affecting text, no half title, presumably as issued, contents clean and well-margined; recently rebound to style in grey boards with olive spine, new endpapers, very good condition; 27pp.