A TREATISE ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Boston: James Loring, 1835. 'Revised stereotyped edition' (1st 1745) . Black sp.,printed blue boards. Good-. 10 cms x 16 Cms. t.p. continues: 'with questions adapted for the use of schools', 'Important Hints for Teachers by Rev. Josph Emerson' verso t.p. 144 pp.(last page and a half being notices, inc.Joseph Emerson's revised ed. of Watt's Improvement of the Mind). 1835 gift inscrip. fr.free endpaper, brown spotting to fr.free fly-leaf, t.p. faintly tanned as is majority of text, occ.more severely or with spotting, rear endpaper and pastedown also tanned/browned, fr. gutter cracked, partly detaching from cover at bottom, no marking; boards dust-darkened & corner-rubbed, black cloth sp. rubbed along joints and part of surface, bottom tip presumably chipped, now repaired with black tape, which is not that obvious at first glance. This perennial best-seller is a bibliographic nightmare being constantly re-issued, especially in the U.S.A. into mid-19th century. Essential for social historians interested in the popular self-improvement genre, and also I think for historians of Psychology studying the cultural background of the early 'proto-Psychology' phase pre-1850. Rev.Joseph Emerson (1777-1863) is not be confused with the lexicographer, Webster's rival, Joseph Emerson Worcester.