The Wonders of the Little World (Ed J.C. Furnas)
Ithaca, New York; (1931): The Dragon Press. Small Octavo. Item #027787
xv, 124 pages. Nathaniel Wanley wrote many works in the 17th century but in this his last book he has written an exhaustive and carefully documented compendium of human prodigies. J.C. Furnas who has written an introduction notes he was writing about the strange things that occur in human beings well before Ripley's Believe it or Not. But while there was editing of many of Ripley's items, Wanley's world was not so sensitive. Robert Browning's Pied Pieper of Hamelin is based on Wanley, He cites the case of Eleanora Salviata who gave birth to fifty-two children (with many multiple births no less than triplets) while the story of Anne Green who was hung at Oxford in 1650 and according to the accounts was found alive in her coffin and one of the most hair-raising accounts of a post-mortem you have ever read. Bound in gray cloth lettered in black spine plain, previous owner's name on endpaper, some soiling or staining to binding. wear to spine ends. A very good copy.
Price: $150.00