Von dem greüwelichen laster der trunckenheit so in disen letsten zeiten erst schier mit dem frantzosen auffkom[m]en…[Augsburg, Heinrich Steiner, 1533]

£3,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

An early edition of Franck’s treatise “On the horrible vice of drunkennness”, which is one of the first to deal with the alcohol abuse and has a very modern tone; first published by Steiner in 1531. Franck did not disapprove of modest intake, a little drinking is healthy and a means to keep fit: “The sun is not evil for being worshipped by idolaters. Gold is not bad because some men are driven to the gallows by it. Flowers are not poison because of the poison spiders make out of them.” However, and in this he is not that different from tee-totallers and abolitionists in the 19th and 20th centuries, he does see the dangers inherent in over-indulgence and it is in particular over consumption of wine (a vice which he accuses the French of having imported into Germany). He is alive both to the physical effects on the alcoholic both male and female: “A bad, untimely old age; stupid, dull head; vertigo; trembling of the hands; podagra; dropsy; and as the saying goes, water on the brain.” He is however more concerned about the social effects: “Bacchus killed more men than Mars” and “More men get drowned in the glass than in the sea.” But Franck did not attribute all these deaths to the direct effect of wine. The modern idea of lowered disease resistance due to excessive use of alcohol was quite explicitly expressed by him. “Although not all die in the fullness of wine, they have, at least, spoilt nature… .” He estimated that every tenth death “has something to do with drinking”. Fra

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