F.J. Gall, Karl August Bloede - Dr. F. J. Galls neue entdeckungen in der gehirn, schedel und organenlehre - 1807

Dr. F.J. Galls neue entdeckungen in der gehirn, schedel und organenlehre mit vorzüglicher benutzung der Blöde'schen schrift über diese gegenstande, dargestellt und mit anmerkungen begleitet nach den Gall'schen unterredungen zu Carlsruhe im December 1806. Karlsruhe: Müller, 1807.
[Dr. F.J. Gall's new discoveries in the brain, skull and organ theory with excellent use of Blöde's writings on these subjects, presented and accompanied with notes after Gall's discussions at Carlsruhe in December 1806]

Octavo: xxxii, [2], 208 pages; one folding plate, one frontispiece portrait.

In contemporary card, with paper covers preserved. Occasionally browned and toned, due to paper and ink quality, but a complete and very acceptable.

FIRST edition.

A so-named ‘second edition’ appeared in the same year with a different title and with 302 pages: Dr. F.J. Galls Neue Entdeckungen in der Gehirn-, Schedel-, und Organenlehre: mit vorzüglicher Benutzung der Blöde'schen Schrift über diese Gegenstände, ganz umgearbeitet und nach den neuesten Gall'schen Unterredungen bereichert [Dr. F.J. Gall's new discoveries in the theory of the brain, skull and organs: with excellent use of Blöde's writings on these subjects, completely revised and enriched according to Gall's most recent discussions].This second edition is the more common.

HOLDINGS
No copies in the US; one copy only in the UK, at the BL.

Some of this work was incorporated into one of the earliest French accounts of Gall’s work: Cranologie ou découvertes nouvelles du docteur F. J. Gall, concernant le cerveau, le crâne, et les organes. Ouvrage traduit de l'allemand (Paris 1807), but the German text is for the greater part original. By 1806, Gall’s work on identifying the different ‘organs’ of the brain had morphed into an early version of phrenology, which posited that the organs and the subsequent contours of the brain could be ‘read’ by the shape of the skull. Gall himself, unlike his onetime disciple Spurzheim, appears not to have followed this new popular account and extension of his work and in the listed book there is only an indecisive acknowledgement of organology’s underpinning of phrenology. The work is concerned then (as indicated) with new discoveries in the brain, skull and organ theory.

That said, it is interesting to see that the publisher has inserted a page at the start of the book to offer (phrenological) heads for sale in his shop in Carlsruhe.