"LOVE IS A PLAGUE, A TORTURE, A HELL… THE SPANISH INQUISITION IS NOT COMPARABLE TO IT": BURTON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, 1660

[BURTON, Robert] Democritus Junior. The Anatomy of Melancholy. What it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptomes, prognostickes, & severall cures of it. In three Partitions, with their severall Sections, members, and subsections… With a Satyricall Preface. London: Henry Cripps, 1660. Folio (8-1/2 by 12 inches), period-style full speckled calf, red morocco spine label; pp.(10), 78, (6), 723 [1], (9). $5200.

Seventh edition of this early description of the state of depression, "destined to become the most frequently reprinted psychiatric text," with "several considerable additions by [Burton’s] own hand" and wonderful engraved allegorical title page.

"The first psychiatric encyclopedia" to be written in any language (Norman 381) and "one of the most fascinating books in literature" (DNB), Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy helped to popularize what had previously been a mysterious and largely unexplored topic, the mental state that has come to be called "depression." Burton elaborately divides the Anatomy into four main sections and numerous subsections, each of which deals with the causes, symptoms, and cures of various types of melancholy. "His approach to mental illness was so advanced for his time that his book had no immediate predecessors and no immediate successors" (Alexander & Selesnick, 102). "This great book was destined to become the most frequently reprinted psychiatric text… Nearly one thousand authors are cited, about half of them medical. It was so popular that five editions appeared in Burton's lifetime and three more in the 17th century" (Hunter & MacAlpine, 94). First issued in small quarto in 1621, it was "a work once almost forgotten, but which owed its revival to the inordinate praise of Dr. Johnson, who observed that it 'was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise" (Lowndes I, 328). "On every page is the impress of a singularly deep and original genius" (DNB). With "Table" at rear; decorative woodcut headpieces and initials. [Bb5] mis-signed as Dd; text complete. Wing B6183. See Garrison & Morton 4918.1; Grolier 100, 18.

First few dozen leaves with light expert cleaning. Allegorical title page remargined on lower edge, expert paper repairs and residual mild dampstaining to first few leaves, mild embrowning and occasional spotting throughout. A very good copy.