The Book of Poisons
SCHENK, Gustav
The Book of Poisons
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1956
8vo., green publisher’s boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt; together in the bright pictorial dustwrapper, printed in green, red, black and yellow, and featuring devices such as mushrooms, pipe smokers and root plants; pp. [ix], 2-235, [i]; a lovely example, the boards clean and unmarked; internally very good, with the wrapper somewhat offset to the endleaves, and spotting to the edges of the text block, sometimes just beginning to encroach onto the outer margins of pages; the very good dustwrapper in superior condition to those otherwise found, retaining all of the original colour to both upper panel and backstrip; with large price clip to the front flap, and some spotting mostly affecting the lower panel and spine, just a little scuffed at edges; one tape repair, to the verso, at head of spine.
First English edition, translated from the German ‘Das Buch der Gifte’ by Michael Bullock.
A comprehensive guide to poisons of the world, from those found in vegetables and plants (hemlock, arsenic, mandrake root), to animals (stingrays, porcupines, snakes, black widows), opium, cocaine, and hashish, as well as those used more commonly in day to day life, including tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. The book ends with two chapters on man-made industrial poisons, and those used as weapons of war. Describing poisons from the perspectives of both healing and deadly roles, Schenk intersperses the chapters with his own personal experiences of many of the drugs, including black henbane and mescalin.
Gustav Schenk (1905-1969) was somewhat of a polymath, with a wide range of interests including popular science, art, printing and photography, with a number of his photographs now held at MOMA in New York. Between 1931 and 1932 he produced and edited the Wachsbogen magazine, which appeared in twelve issues and attempted to give young, up-and-coming artists a platform for their work. Fascinated by ‘elemental forces’, Schenk’s final chapters here, on chemical-warfare agents and radio-active radiation, impart his personal interest in man’s capacity to create both the wonderful and the dangerous: “modern science has made spectacular advances in the breaking down of substances”, he writes, “with terrifying capriciousness, chemistry and technology have created sources of danger to which we are helplessly exposed; for control over the forces that have been thoughtlessly released has never kept pace with the staggering development and spread of physical substances.”
Surprisingly scarce. Seldom found in such condition, particularly with the wrapper so intact.
SCHENK, Gustav
The Book of Poisons
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1956
8vo., green publisher’s boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt; together in the bright pictorial dustwrapper, printed in green, red, black and yellow, and featuring devices such as mushrooms, pipe smokers and root plants; pp. [ix], 2-235, [i]; a lovely example, the boards clean and unmarked; internally very good, with the wrapper somewhat offset to the endleaves, and spotting to the edges of the text block, sometimes just beginning to encroach onto the outer margins of pages; the very good dustwrapper in superior condition to those otherwise found, retaining all of the original colour to both upper panel and backstrip; with large price clip to the front flap, and some spotting mostly affecting the lower panel and spine, just a little scuffed at edges; one tape repair, to the verso, at head of spine.
First English edition, translated from the German ‘Das Buch der Gifte’ by Michael Bullock.
A comprehensive guide to poisons of the world, from those found in vegetables and plants (hemlock, arsenic, mandrake root), to animals (stingrays, porcupines, snakes, black widows), opium, cocaine, and hashish, as well as those used more commonly in day to day life, including tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. The book ends with two chapters on man-made industrial poisons, and those used as weapons of war. Describing poisons from the perspectives of both healing and deadly roles, Schenk intersperses the chapters with his own personal experiences of many of the drugs, including black henbane and mescalin.
Gustav Schenk (1905-1969) was somewhat of a polymath, with a wide range of interests including popular science, art, printing and photography, with a number of his photographs now held at MOMA in New York. Between 1931 and 1932 he produced and edited the Wachsbogen magazine, which appeared in twelve issues and attempted to give young, up-and-coming artists a platform for their work. Fascinated by ‘elemental forces’, Schenk’s final chapters here, on chemical-warfare agents and radio-active radiation, impart his personal interest in man’s capacity to create both the wonderful and the dangerous: “modern science has made spectacular advances in the breaking down of substances”, he writes, “with terrifying capriciousness, chemistry and technology have created sources of danger to which we are helplessly exposed; for control over the forces that have been thoughtlessly released has never kept pace with the staggering development and spread of physical substances.”
Surprisingly scarce. Seldom found in such condition, particularly with the wrapper so intact.
SCHENK, Gustav
The Book of Poisons
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1956
8vo., green publisher’s boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt; together in the bright pictorial dustwrapper, printed in green, red, black and yellow, and featuring devices such as mushrooms, pipe smokers and root plants; pp. [ix], 2-235, [i]; a lovely example, the boards clean and unmarked; internally very good, with the wrapper somewhat offset to the endleaves, and spotting to the edges of the text block, sometimes just beginning to encroach onto the outer margins of pages; the very good dustwrapper in superior condition to those otherwise found, retaining all of the original colour to both upper panel and backstrip; with large price clip to the front flap, and some spotting mostly affecting the lower panel and spine, just a little scuffed at edges; one tape repair, to the verso, at head of spine.
First English edition, translated from the German ‘Das Buch der Gifte’ by Michael Bullock.
A comprehensive guide to poisons of the world, from those found in vegetables and plants (hemlock, arsenic, mandrake root), to animals (stingrays, porcupines, snakes, black widows), opium, cocaine, and hashish, as well as those used more commonly in day to day life, including tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. The book ends with two chapters on man-made industrial poisons, and those used as weapons of war. Describing poisons from the perspectives of both healing and deadly roles, Schenk intersperses the chapters with his own personal experiences of many of the drugs, including black henbane and mescalin.
Gustav Schenk (1905-1969) was somewhat of a polymath, with a wide range of interests including popular science, art, printing and photography, with a number of his photographs now held at MOMA in New York. Between 1931 and 1932 he produced and edited the Wachsbogen magazine, which appeared in twelve issues and attempted to give young, up-and-coming artists a platform for their work. Fascinated by ‘elemental forces’, Schenk’s final chapters here, on chemical-warfare agents and radio-active radiation, impart his personal interest in man’s capacity to create both the wonderful and the dangerous: “modern science has made spectacular advances in the breaking down of substances”, he writes, “with terrifying capriciousness, chemistry and technology have created sources of danger to which we are helplessly exposed; for control over the forces that have been thoughtlessly released has never kept pace with the staggering development and spread of physical substances.”
Surprisingly scarce. Seldom found in such condition, particularly with the wrapper so intact.