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[CHADWICK, Sir Edwin (1800-1890)]. Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an inquiry into the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain. London: W. Clowes and Sons for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1842. -- Local Reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. London: W. Clowes and Sons for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1842. -- Reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Scotland, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. London: W. Clowes and Sons for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1842. -- Report on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain. A supplementary report on the results of a special inquiry into the practice of interment in towns. London: W. Clowes and Sons for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1843.
4 volumes, 8o (214 x 132mm). Numerous wood-engraved, engraved and lithographed illustrations, some with printed color, some folding. Original pebble-grained purple cloth, gilt-lettered spines (spines and edges slightly faded, corners bumped, a few faint splashes and stains).
These reports commissioned by England's Poor Law Commission and written by Edwin Chadwick exposed the appallingly poor sanitary conditions in which the working classes of Britain lived in the first half of the 19th century. Chadwick recognized the relationship between unsanitary living conditions and disease and saw that effective drainage and better ventilation were the keys to alleviating the situation. He also advocated cremation of the dead or burial outside towns in order to avoid contamination of urban air and water supplies. Chadwick's proposals led to the Public Health Act of 1848, by which the British government for the first time assumed responsibility for the health of its subjects, and his administrative reforms established the principles on which subsequent public health administration was based. The complete set of 4 reports is rarely found together. Garrison-Morton 1608; Grolier Medicine 63 (this copy exhibited); Heirs of Hippocrates 1626, 1627; PMM 313; Wellcome II, p. 322; Norman 434. (4)
4 volumes, 8
These reports commissioned by England's Poor Law Commission and written by Edwin Chadwick exposed the appallingly poor sanitary conditions in which the working classes of Britain lived in the first half of the 19th century. Chadwick recognized the relationship between unsanitary living conditions and disease and saw that effective drainage and better ventilation were the keys to alleviating the situation. He also advocated cremation of the dead or burial outside towns in order to avoid contamination of urban air and water supplies. Chadwick's proposals led to the Public Health Act of 1848, by which the British government for the first time assumed responsibility for the health of its subjects, and his administrative reforms established the principles on which subsequent public health administration was based. The complete set of 4 reports is rarely found together. Garrison-Morton 1608; Grolier Medicine 63 (this copy exhibited); Heirs of Hippocrates 1626, 1627; PMM 313; Wellcome II, p. 322; Norman 434. (4)