A Treatise on Lovesickness
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo. Fine / Near Fine. Item #006851
Full burgundy cloth. xvi, 709 pp. Some very light bumping to spine ends and corners, ink ownership inscription to ffep, else fine. Dust jacket sunned to spine, bumped to extremities, creased to flaps. Originally published in Toulouse in French in 1610, this translation of the 1623 edition of Ferrand's treatise, Of Lovesickness or Erotic Melancholy: A Scientific Discourse that teaches how to know the essence, causes, signs, and remedies of this disease of the fantasy, is a veritable summa on the topic of erotomania in the late Renaissance. As both a philosopher and a practicing physician, Ferrand saw his treatise as a medical book to help people, indeed to "cure" them of "the most frequent and dangerous disease which threatens mortals of both sexes." Under the general heading of a history of lovesickness, one can actually find in Ferrand five realted histories: medicine, mental health, psychiatry, feminine sexuality, and pharmacy - all of which he documents copiously from over three hundred authors, from classical sources to church fathers to naturalists.
Price: $60.00