First edition, 4to (276 x 220 mm), large paper copy, xx, [21]-227, [1, errata]pp., engraved frontispiece of the North front vie of the Retreat, quite heavily offset onto title as usual, small oval oil stain to lower blank margin of title and prelims, loss to top corner of P1 removing one letter from margin header, 2 engraved ground plans, nineteenth-century half calf, marbled boards, leather spine label, slightly rubbed. In 1791 a Quaker woman, Hannah Miles, died in suspicious circumstances in the York Asylum (later Bootham Park Hospital). William Tuke was appalled, and when his daughter Ann asked why there could not be an establishment for such persons within the Quaker Society he was immediately taken with the idea. His wife hated the whole idea and the Society of Friends and initially disapproved of the whole scheme, but despite all obstacles the basic principle of The Retreat was formerly laid down. It was to be 1796 before The Retreat first opened its doors to patients and the first three arrived in May of that year. At the time of The Retreat's foundation many patients in other institutions were chained or manacled to starve them to reduce their strength. Many madhouses were filled with stench and patients were cruelly beaten to fit in with the common philosophy that the rule of fear was the only way to control patients. Tuke's philosophy was vastly different and, in 1813 his grandson Samuel published this book. It was to have a profound effect on the conceptions of how to deal with the mentally ill, and was instrumental in bringing about reforms at York Asylum. With intense interest aroused the House of Commons set up a Select Committee to report on 'Madhouses' in 1815 as a direct result. Tuke gave evidence to a second report and his 'mild method' of looking after the mentally ill eventually won support and gave rise to new legislation. The Retreat was to evolve new and far reaching methods of humane treatment of the mentally ill and leave a lasting impression on the theory and practice of other establishments both nationally and internationally. Garrison-Morton, 4925.1; Hunter & Macalpine, pp. 684-90; Norman, 2109.
