Modern Cremation Its History and Practice by Sir Henry Thompson

Modern Cremation
Cremation: Its History and Practice to the Present Date, with information relating to the latest improvements and experience both in this country and abroad

by Sir Henry Thompson

London: Smith, Elder, & Co.
Stated fourth edition, revised and enlarged, 1901.

Signed and inscribed on half-title page "To Herbert Spencer, Esq, with kind regards from his friend, the Author, May 1901." Spencer's personal stamp appears at the top of the title page. On the bottom of page 156 is written in the author's handwriting/same color pen "Passed both houses early in May" in reference to a bill to regulate the practice of cremation--see photo.

Condition: Hardcover, with minor bumping to corners and spine ends, spine darkened. Endpapers show some discoloration/light foxing, as do the first and last couple pages. Inside cover has two bookplates from the same family with the same coat-of-arms, bookdealer pencil notations to the ffep. Lewis Ambler's stamp to the back endpapers. Several sections remain uncut, mostly along upper edges but some along fore-edge. Page 157, the Appendix, has a vertical crease. Page 163 is dog-eared and has one small mark in the margin. Otherwise interior is clean. Binding remains firm.

Both Thompson and Spencer died within three years of the inscription (both were born in 1920; Spencer died in December 1903 and Thompson in April 1904), and both, appropriately enough, were cremated.