Northern Counties' Asylum for Idiots, Instituted at Lancaster, December 21, 1864

Lancaster: Printed by E. & J. L. Milner, Guardian Office, 1864. Original wrappers. Very good. First edition. xx, 45 pp. Octavo, publisher's pink wrappers, black letters and decorations on the front cover. Front wrapper slightly dust soiled and foxed, rear wrapper is sunned and creased. Wrapper edges and spine slightly chipped. Overall a very good copy. Internally clean and unmarked, with very minor occasional faint ink smudges. one gathering unopened. Rare in original wrappers. Very rare first edition of this pamphlet which traces the bequest, donations and council meetings which took place in 1864-5 to secure the founding of the northern asylum for 'idiots' modeled on the Earlswood Asylum (Surrey) and Essex Hall (Essex). 'Idiots' were defined as 'congenitally deficient in reasoning powers'; persons so defined were understood to be permanently affected rather than suffering an impairment of mental faculties due to temporary illness or collapse (OED, 'idiot' n. 2a).</p><p>The reports include accounts of patient life from the superintendent of Essex Hall: its 'erection was an experiment, but it is one of the last succeeded, and it shows us that the darkest spots of human existence still have some beams of merct and goodness; for being made clean, comfortable and of higher enjoyment of life. Youths who have made sport to the thoughtless have become so changed that they could no longer be objects of ridicule; dangerous idiots, made various by violent measures, have become gentle and good-humoured; those who were filthy have been transformed into decency of habit; the noisy have been rendered decorous; and the contortions of gait have vanished under careful drill and gymnastic apparatus' (p. 7). 1864