The Resurrection Men: A History of the Trade in Corpses

First edition, first printing.  xvi, 208pp, plus a section of black and white plate illustrations.  Black cloth boards, gilt titles on spine.  8vo.  Cloth a little rounded at corners and spine ends.  Hint of spotting on text block edges.  Internally neat, clean, bright and tight throughout. In its original illustrated dust jacket, not price clipped, very slightly bumped on extreme edges.  Dust wrapper now protected in an archival-quality Mylar sleeve, fitted without the use of tape or adhesives. The Resurrection Men were body snatchers, stealing freshly buried  corpses from graveyards and selling them on to anatomy schools for dissection and medical research. The trade flourished in 18th and 19th century Britain as the demand for bodies for dissection from doctors and medical schools outstripped the supply of legal cadavers.