8vo. viii, 200pp. Finely bound by Riviere (stamp-signed to FEP) in contemporary richly gilt-tooled buff morocco, contrasting black and brown morocco lettering-pieces, A.E.G. Lightly rubbed and marked. Scattered spotting. Inked gift inscription addressed to J. T. Coleridge, 'on his seventy second birthday from his children, J. D. Coleridge and J. F. Coleridge, 9th July. 1862'.

A handsome Coleridge family copy, finely bound by Riviere, of American physician and fireside poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'s (1809-1894) first internationally successful prose work. Continuing in two later sequels, narrated by the 'Professor' and the 'Poet' respectively, Holmes' prose works often consist of collections of philosophical, moral, and scientific questions, presented in a conversational manner by a 'qualified' persona, such as this Parisian doctor.