When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
SIR JOHN SINCLAIR — THE CODE OF HEALTH AND LONGEVITY
London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper; Edinburgh: William Tait, 1833. Fifth edition.
Octavo. xx, 430, 172 pp. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Sir John Sinclair, portraits of celebrated long-lived individuals, and further practical plates.
Original publisher’s boards with printed paper spine label, the label retaining the edition statement and original published price, “Fifth Edition / Price One Pound.”
An appealing copy of Sinclair’s influential compendium of preventive health, physical regimen, aging and longevity, preserved in its original 1833 binding. First published in 1807, the work sought to assemble historical and contemporary evidence concerning the preservation of health and prolongation of life, addressing diet, exercise, sleep, bathing, climate, ventilation, occupation, mental activity, hygiene and the care of the aged.
The present fifth edition, issued two years before Sinclair’s death, includes a substantial separately paginated appendix and a series of engraved portraits of individuals reputed for exceptional longevity, among them Thomas Parr, Catherine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond, Peter Garden and Isobel Walker. The extraordinary ages attributed to these figures reflect contemporary historical claims rather than modern verified records.
Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835), Scottish politician, agricultural reformer and pioneer of statistical inquiry, is best remembered for directing the Statistical Account of Scotland. In The Code of Health and Longevity he applied a similarly comparative approach to questions of health, environment, habit and lifespan, making the work an early contribution to the histories of preventive medicine, hygiene, dietetics and gerontology.
The survival of the original publisher’s boards is particularly attractive. The printed spine label, though worn, remains substantially legible and preserves both the fifth-edition designation and the original retail price of one pound.
Provenance: Bookseller’s tickets of Poole and Boult, Chester, and G. David, Cambridge; later pencil bibliographical note to front blank.
Condition: Good to very good. Original boards rubbed, scuffed, stained and worn at edges and corners; spine ends worn. Printed spine label rubbed, chipped and with some loss, but substantially legible. Boards attached and text block sound. Internally with scattered foxing, spotting, toning and occasional staining; plates with some foxing, offsetting and age-toning. Bookseller’s labels and pencil notes to front endpapers and blanks.
A desirable copy of a major early work on health and longevity, retaining its original publisher’s binding and printed price label.
