CULPEPER, Nicholas (1616-54). Culpeper's Last Legacy ... The Fifth Impression, London, 1676, 8vo, engraved frontispiece portrait of the author (variable mainly marginal spotting and staining throughout), modern old-style speckled calf. Wing C7521A.

CULPEPER, Nicholas (1616-54).  Culpeper's Last Legacy: Left and Bequeathed to his Dearest Wife, for the Publick Good. Being the Choycest and Most Profitable of those Secrets which while he lived were lockt up in his Breast, and Resolved never to be Publish'd till after his Death ... With two Particular Treatises; the one of Fevers, the other of Pestilence: as also Rare and Choyce Aphorisms and Receipts, fitted to the Understanding of the Meanest Capacities. With an Addition of Two Hundred Choyce Receipts, lately found, never publish'd before in any of his Other Works; and a Compleat Table. The Fifth Impression, whereunto is added an Exact and Perfect Treatise of Anatomy of the Reins and Bladder, Brain and Nerves of all Parts of the Body never Published before this year 1676. London: "Printed for Nath. Brooke at the Angel in Cornhil [sic], near the Royal Exchange," 1676. 8vo (167 x 105mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, typographical ornaments, 16-pages of publisher's advertisements at the end (light stain to frontispiece, variable mainly light and marginal spotting, staining and browning throughout, a few darker spots and small rust holes). Modern old-style speckled calf, the spine with red morocco lettering-piece, new endpapers. Provenance: several titles in the publisher's advertisement underlined in old ink. "Culpeper left many manuscripts in his wife's custody. 'My husband', Mrs. Culpeper wrote in 1655, 'left seventy-nine books of his own making or translating in my hands,' and Peter Cole, the publisher, was invited to print them. He had already, it was alleged, published seventeen books by the astrologer, and paid liberally for them. But a rival stationer named Nathaniel Brooks put forward several works with Culpeper's name on the title-page. The chief of these were: 1) 'Culpeper's Last Legacy' ..." (DNB). Wing (2nd ed.) C7521A.