Aristotle's Works Compleated In Four Parts. I The Compleat Master-Piece. Ii His Compleat And Experienced Midwife .Iii His Book Of Problems. Iv His Last Legacy [Sexuality. Midwifery. Childbirth. Medicine.] Pseudo-Aristotle

A composite collection of works dealing with sexuality, childbirth, and other subjects, comprising four separate works published: pseudo-Aristotle's "Compleat Master-Piece", "Aristotle's midwife", "Problems. touching the state of Man's Body", and the "Last Legacy: Unfolding the Mysteries of Nature in the Generation of Man", together with a general title page. These treatises on pregnancy, childbirth, sexuality, and home medicine, trading on the name of Aristotle, appeared individually and then in collected editions throughout the 18th century, mostly in undated editions. Due to the alluring nature of some of the texts (the "Master-Piece" and "Legacy" had pornographic content) and the utilitarian function of the midwives' manual, all printings are uncommon and rarely found complete. The parts (without the general title) were also available separately. It is particularly unusual to find these titles still in an 18th century binding. Bound in contemporary sheepskin (corners worn, small defects to head and foot of spine and hinges, boards lightly scuffed), the boards with a double blind-rule and tooled with a repeating decorative roll tool. Signature of the first owner to front and rear pastedowns: 'Jonathan Baxter. his book 1752'. Complete with the 4 woodcut frontispieces (the first with woodcuts on both sides) and the added folding woodcut showing a child in the womb. The contents are in remarkably good condition. The general title page has an unobtrusive archival tape repair. The folding "child in the womb" plate with a similar repair to the blank verso. Light soiling to title, opening leaves cut a bit close, shaving (on the first leaf) the final line of the imprint and final line of the advert. The first line on the 3rd leaf (title to "Compleat Masterpiece") is shaved very slightly; several other leaves are trimmed very close at the fore-edge, occasionally affecting a letter. Faint oil stain to opening gathering, light smudge at head of leaf A4. Scattered minor blemishes. Margins a bit close throughout but only shaving the odd headline. Leaf D5 third part with tear in upper blank margin. Final leaf with mended tear, archivally mended. The first work in the volume, "Aristotle's Masterpiece", was an extraordinarily popular guide to sex and pregnancy, designed for the patients who could not afford professional medical care. Originally published in 1684, it was published and pirated into the 19th century. "The frontispiece. was one of very few erotic images available to the common reader. It was sold furtively by country peddlers and in general stores and taverns; regular booksellers seldom advertised it, though they usually had it under the counter."(Library Company of Philadelphia) The second work in the volume is a popular childbirth manual covering the entire process from conception through pregnancy, labor and the caring for newborn babies and older children. The folding plate shows the position of a baby in the womb. The fourth work is a sex manual in the guise of a work on human reproduction. Chapters include "Of Virginity: its Signs and Tokens", "Of the Organs of Generation in Women", "Of the Use and Action of Genitals", "Of Conception; and how to know whether a Woman has conceiv'd", "Of Barrenness, with Remedy against it", and "Directions to both Sexes how to manage themselves in the Act of Coition". I. The "Master-Piece": The "Master-Piece" "was the most popular book about women's bodies, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth in Britain and America from its first appearance in 1684 up to at least the 1870s."(Fissell, "Hairy Women and Naked Truths", p. 46) The attribution to Aristotle was an attempt to link the work to one of the most influential classical writers in the early modern period, one who had written "On the Generation of Animals". "The book's title, like the work itself, was an unusual combination of learned and vernacular elements. The makers of 'Masterpiece' probably intended "Aristotle" to connote both classical l