Meretseger Books

Nekrokedeia: or, the Art of Embalming

GREENHILL Thomas

Item #M0351a

Extremely rare. 3 parts in one, Printed for the Author, London, 1705. First edition. In-8, vii & ii & 365 pages. Bound in an elegant modern full leather, in fine condition. Nekrokedeia is a collection of all things related to death and burial, focusing in particular on the history and art of embalming. Greenhill believed that embalming was a subject just as important as anatomy or surgery and advocated for its practice, discussing it from a medical as well as a religious perspective. The book is divided into three letters, all addressed to a specific doctor: the first to Charles Bernard, Serjeant Surgeon to Queen Anne, the second to John Lawson, the former president of the Royal College of Physicians and the third to Hans Sloane, secretary to the Royal Society (whose vast collection was to become the founding collection of the British Museum). As is perhaps to be expected a large proportion of the book is devoted to exploring the practise of mummification in Ancient Egypt, though it is an exploration long and meandering with many deviations, such as the section on the temperament of the Egyptian people whom he states are hot and dry and of a chearful Temper, yet delight much in an idle and lazy kind of Life, being immoderate votaries to Venus. Large sections of the book, as Greenhill himself admits, are borrowed from previous works, in particular from Athanasius Kirchers work on Ancient Egypt from 50 years earlier. Greenhill's book was originally meant to consist of three parts, but only the first was published and this by subscription. Other examples of the book have an altered title: "...Especially that of Preserving Bodies in most nations of the world" etc. as opposed to this presumably earlier version: "Especially that of Preserving Bodies after the Egyptian Method," etc. Language: English. Relevant subjects: Egypt: Religion & Magic.

Language: English.

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