Carl Heinrich Stratz (translated by Edmund Biernacki), The Beauty of the Female Body [1906]

Translation: Dr. Edmund Biernacki (1866–1911) [Polish physician and pathologist who, in 1897, discovered the relationship between the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and inflammation in the body—a test known today as the Biernacki Reaction (OB)]

Publisher: Stefan Demby, Warsaw (Printed by Piotr Laskauer)

Year of publication: 1906.

Volume: 410 pages, 200 illustrations in the text; the set originally included 11 color plates (one is missing from this copy).

A Polish translation of Carl Heinrich Stratz’s acclaimed book *Die Schönheit des weiblichen Körpers*, which combines anatomy, hygiene, and art history in an attempt to describe the canon of female beauty. The German original, illustrated with numerous nude photographs, caused a moral uproar and went through several dozen editions. Stratz, a physician, primarily criticized the corset as the cause of skeletal deformities, contrasting natural figures with those deformed by the corset; the book was part of the clothing reform movement of the time. Some of the anthropological arguments reflect the views of its era. It was translated by Dr. Edmund Biernacki, a physician known today as the discoverer of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).

The book is in good condition, with a few loose pages. One color plate is missing.

An item from the 19th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.