MAN THE MASTERPIECE

Pacific Press London c1891 (by research) Title page missing and author and publisher obtained by research on comparable volumes. Fair (half bound in brown leather with gilt titles on ridged spine, rubbed at top and base of spine, worn at outside board edges and corners bumped, marbled endpapers, apart from missing title page two of the colour plates appear to be missing, although plates are not bound within the book in numerical order - plate VI appears before plate V for example. Gilt edged pages, some thumbprints and brown marks in margins, and scribble on two central pages and small pencil annotaions in index) very substantial octavo 604pp. Contents page lists 25 plates, only 23 of these are present. Contents page also lists 5 other plates on the sexual organs which are not present. In this very substantial volume for young men, in the preface the author points out some of the evils which lie at the foundation of physical and moral degeneracy, aiming to inspire the boys and young men of the rising generation with a higher regard for their bodies, to encourage the development of a higher, purer, and nobler type of manhood. Chapters on the human body, how to be strong (with illustrations of and instructions for various exercises), ethics and social ethics, getting a wife, the evils of depraved appetites, how to make life a success, the importance of good food, treatment for biliousness, the air which we breathe, a long chapter on intoxication and the evils of alcohol and the terrible things that can happen to a drunkard, tobacco-using and its evils, germs, what to wear for health, how to bathe, and a long chapter on sexual sins and their consequences and diseases of the sexual organs, also general hints about health, common ailments, and choice prescriptions. Colour plates of the body and its organs, as well as various forms of exercise. Delightful to read. Lots of exhortations to avoid the evils of alcohol and tobacco (a relic of barbarism), lots of advice on social etiquette, and the terrible consequences of sexual sins.