ONAN ESCHEWED - Rick Grunder

London, 1710. Of the 1759 edition offered here, OCLC locates THREE COPIES, only
one being in the United States: Cambridge University (England), the Sachsische
Landesbibliothek (Germany), and Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Ohio).
Much has been written about or against this classic, yet I find no early English
editions offered for sale online (but many reprints offered on demand). Indeed,
the only early Onania that I find offered for sale anywhere online is "probably the
last German edition and the most comprehensive" (Frankfurt, 1754), offered for
$1,200 by the firm of Lyng & Søn (Copenhagen), with the following interesting
commentary:
This work, issued anonymous in England, was apparently written by John
Marten (see Wellcome), coins the word "Onania" and links masturbation with
guilt. It was not the first work to warn of the dangers of onanism, but it is the
first work that condemns masturbation in such decrying details. It was published
as a pamphlet in London between 1710 and 1716 with the title "Onania; or, The
Heinous Sin of self Pollution, and all its Frightfull Consequences, in both Sexes
Considered...", but was soon expanded as each succeeding edition included
letters to the author, testimonials, and requests for advice, as well as the authors
responses to various printed attacks and rival publications. - Wellcome IV:264
(listing English and Dutch editions, but not the German)
81 PERFECT MANHOOD. How Beautiful, How Grand is Manly Strength and Vigor!
Do You Possess it? If Not, You Can. . . . [Chicago]: Boston Medical Institute, 182
State Street, Chicago, Ill. [cover title and imprint], n.d. (190-?).
12½ cm. 32 pp. on evenly, lightly toned paper (not brittle). Illustrated wrappers
with line engraving [of Eugene Sandow]. Typo on page 29: "We publish an
elegant large book with colored plates, describing Syphilis in all its stages, which
we will mail, securely sealed, in plain envelope, on receipt of 10 ceuts [sic]." Very
good but for moderate outer corner creases. $40
This undated version is apparently not on OCLC, which shows a total of four
copies of similar editions. These are three variants held by the University of
Rochester Medical Center, plus a second copy of one of these, as follow:
- an 1899 version, 13 cm., "32 pp."
- a 1900 version, as above, also held by U.C.-Davis.
- a 1904 version without page 32 numbered, 13 cm.
OCLC also shows two copies of an 1897 version under title, "Plain words for men
only on the reproductive organs and their diseases," 13 cm., 64 pp., held by
URMC and CSU-San Bernardino.
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