Artificiall embellishments, or, Arts best directions how to preserve beauty or procure it.

Oxford : Printed by William Hall, ann. D. 1665.

1 volume ; 15 cm

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Great Britain -- England -- Oxford, -- publication place.

272954

From dealer's description: "9. SOCIAL ENHANCEMENT JEAMSON, Thomas (d.1674). Artificiall embellishments. Or Arts best directions how to preserve beauty or procure it. Oxford: printed by William Hall, ann. D. 1665. ONLY EDITION. Octavo. Pagination [16], 192 p. Collated and complete. [Wing J503; Madan III, 2705]. Contemporary calf, rebacked, head of spine chipped, front hinge cracking, endpapers renewed, marginal worming (not affecting text), corner of L8 torn away, just touching edge of catchword, but without loss, paper flaw in L3 with loss of one letter. Provenance: inscriptions “Archibaldi Spark” (dated “1666”), “John Lloyd” dated “1706” and “Catherine Lloyd”. (See notes below) THE ORDER OF APPEARANCE ¶ Emulsions, emollients, creams, and other concoctions were often included among the various recipes in English printed and manuscript compilations. But around the middle of the 17th century, some writers began to collate and arrange preparations exclusively concerned with personal appearance, and in doing so, created a new genre: the beauty manual 1. Outward appearance was thought to reflect one’s inner morality and balance of humours, so any attempt to hide the ‘true’ inner identity by face-painting – which had been in vogue during the previous century – was considered immoral and might be condemned from the pulpit or whispered about behind the backs of those who practiced such acts of deceit. In contrast to face-painting, cosmetics were considered by some more acceptable because, rather than completely covering the face, they merely enhanced a person’s natural attributes. When Thomas Jeamson published Artificiall embellishments in 1665, there were very few antecedents for a book devoted solely to cosmetics, and all of them were nearcontemporary. Sir Hugh Plat’s Delights for ladies, to adorne their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories with beauties, banquets, perfumes, and waters first appeared in 1600, and included cosmetics alongside culinary and household recipes. John Gauden’s A discourse of auxiliary beauty. Or artificiall hansomenesse. In point of conscience between two ladies (1656) and Johann Jacob Wecker’s Arts master-piece: or, The beautifying part of physick (1660) only just predated Jeamson’s book; but taken together, these works signalled a shift in attitudes: layers of paint and paste were out; more subtle enhancements were in. Jeamson’s book, according to more than one account, did nothing to enhance his reputation. As a physician, he was, according to William Munk, “much ridiculed”, presumably for writing something considered superficial and infra dig (Artificiall embellishments was published anonymously, but Munk blames “the indiscretion of his publisher” for the leaking of the author’s identity). How much damage this really inflicted is unclear: Jeamson published the book in the year after his graduation from Wadham College, Oxford (Bachelor of Medicine, 1664), and went on to become a Doctor of Medicine in 1668, before being admitted to the College of Physicians in 1671 – hardly a downward spiral (although he died only three years later, in 1674)." [...] Ordered from Dean Cooke, D9715, 2023-02-26, Cat. "Invisible ink" item 9

272954