Every Man his own Physician; The Young Wife's Guide; An Essay upon Nursing by John Theobald, William Cadogan - 1764

London: W Griffin, R Withy; and G Kearsley, 1764 An interesting set of 3 self-help 'medical' works bound with contemporary notes and remedies. The condition of the individual works varies but the set has been newly rebound in half leather with marbled boards - the spine with raised bands and title label. The binding is in fine condition. The first work is the 4th improved edition of John Theobald's Every Man his own Physician, 1764. It is complete in 50pp with appendix. The paper is brown-toned and the title page has a rough outer edge with repair to the gutter. The text has decorative head and tailpieces and initial capitals. There is mispagination - 40-35-42 but no loss of text. The second work, with half title and title page, is 'The Young Wife's Guide' 1st edition 1764. This is complete with 2 pages of introduction and 49 pp of text. There are a number of edge tears and gutter repairs, and a lot of staining. There is a blank between pp 48 and 49. Contains some horrendous 'remedies' for childhood ailments. The 3rd work is 'An Essay upon Nursing, and the Management of Children, from their Birth to Three Years of Age' with separate title page dated 1750. This is by William Cadogan. This is complete in 38pp but the paper is extremely fragile and extensive old repairs in the gutter have not helped. Page 7/8 has been torn and a section is missing. There is some loss of text at the top of the gutter pp 21/22. It makes interesting reading, particularly because William Cadogan has a very argumentative and dogmatic style on every subject relating to babies. There are 25pp of handwritten notes added after work 3, and pasted cuttings to the front blank and end blank with further notes. These are detailed notes on ailments and remedies. An interesting collection.