Dead at 17: An Illustrated Warning of the Deadly Perils of Self Abuse in 1830

This post was originally published on this site

Jim Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum has shared a wonderful post on his museum blog about a rare book from the 1830s entitled “Le Livre Sans Titre” (“The Book Without a Title”).

This beautifully illustrated tome is a graphic warning against the perils of self-abuse, or onanism, via the tale of a healthy and handsome young man’s slow decline–symptom by terrifying symptom!–under the influence of the deadly vice.

At that time, masturbation was considered by moralists and physicians as a malady which lead to early death.

Edmonson has generously scanned the lovely hand-colored images and translated the captions from French to English, creating a kind of inadvertent 1830s graphic novel.

(via Dangerous Minds and Morbid Anatomy)