Stiles, Henry Reed — Bundling: Its Origin, Progress and Decline in America

New York, Privately Issued for Subscribers Only, by Knickerbocker Press, 1871. First Edition. Hardcover. Size: 8vo 8" - 9" tall. An apparent variant binding of the true First Edition, printed and published by the Knickerbocker Press for private subscribers only. Sturdy, attractive, tightly bound in hardcover format, original publisher's brown cloth over boards (as opposed to blue), gilt lettering to front cover and spine, clean, unmarked interior but for faint shadowing from removal of former book-plate inside front flap, lightly toned, minimal rubbing to extremities. A fine exposition of the colonial American custom of bundling, according to which a courting couple shared a common bed without undressing. Gone more or less since 1800, it lingered on for another stretch among the Pennsylvania "Dutch" German populations. The author, Henry Reed Stiles (1832-1909), was a physician of no little note and a gentleman historian. The wrapping of a couple together in bed was sanctioned, culturally and religiously, but with a wooden plank dividing them. Stiles examines whether the practice originated in the Netherlands or in the British Isles, but yet it came as a bundled practice to colonial America. 138 pp. including a full index, unusual for the time and for this kind of title.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . . . Very Good