Simon Beattie Ltd.
MOEHSEN, Johann Carl Wilhelm. Geschichte der Wissenschaften in der Mark Brandenburg ... Berlin und Leipzig, bei George Jacob Decker, 1781. 
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4to (245 × 190 mm), pp. [12], 576, [8]; with 3 etched plates at the end; etched and engraved headpiece on p. [5]; some offsetting and light browning in places, occasional finger marks; contemporary dark pink calf panelled gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, spine sunned, some surface wear.
First edition, special issue, apparently a unique copy. The work was a follow-up volume to Moehsen’s earlier Beschreibung einer Berlinischen Medaillen-Sammlung, die vorzüglich aus Gedächtnis-Münzen berühmter Aerzte bestehet (1773) and was also issued under that title, marked ‘Zweiter Theil’, but the present copy was one of those issued separately, with a stand-alone title. Those elements of the book’s publication history are known. But what makes this copy unusual, if not unique, is the presence of a dedication leaf to Frederick the Great (‘Dem Großen und Weisen Könige, dem Vater des Vaterlandes’), printed on thicker paper, and a completely new setting of the preface, embellished with an engraved vignette at the beginning which features the Prussian sceptre on a royal shield (reminiscent of the logo for the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin, the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur or KPM, founded by Frederick the Great in 1763), and with the final two paragraphs, which talk of the book being the second part to Moehsen’s 1773 Beschreibung, removed. The book looks like a presentation copy, but to whom? Could it have been to give to Frederick himself? The dedication makes sense, as Moehsen (1722–1795) was his private physician. And it is known that Frederick set great store by the look of the books in his library; most were bound in red or brown morocco. It is also known that Decker, the printer, was happy to produce very small print-runs, not least for Frederick himself (e.g. Essai sur les formes de gouvernement, 1771, printed in eight copies), so perhaps may have done something similar here for Moehsen. Blake 307.
2950,- EUR Sachgebiete: Brandenburg, Widmungsexemplare, Friedrich II., der Große, Deutschland, Medizin Kontakt zum
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