MORTIMER, W. Golden “Peru: History of Coca” [J. H. Vail & Co, 1901] Cocaine

MORTIMER, W. GOLDEN. Peru: History of Coca “The Divine Plant” of the Incas: With an Introductory Account of the Incas, and of the Andean Indians of To-Day.

New York: J. H. Vail & Company, 1901. First edition. 9.5" x 6.5", xxxi + 576pp with one hundred and seventy-eight illustrations. Publisher’s original maroon cloth stamped in gilt on spine and upper cover with striking Incan mask design and decorative borders; rear cover with gilt vignette of a llama. Light rubbing at extremities with minor shelf wear and slight softening at spine ends; gilt remains bright and binding sound. Interior clean with numerous photographic and engraved illustrations throughout, including views of Lima, archaeological sites, indigenous life, ritual objects, coca preparation, and ethnographic material relating to Incan and Andean culture. Textblock slightly bowed. A notably attractive copy in the publisher’s decorative cloth. Very Good.

An early and substantial study of coca, cocaine, and their cultural and medical history in Peru, examining the coca leaf as both sacred plant and stimulant. Mortimer discusses indigenous ceremonial use among the Incas, coca chewing, traditional medicine, colonial attitudes toward coca cultivation, and the growing Western scientific interest in cocaine and alkaloid extraction at the turn of the twentieth century. The work also includes broader treatment of Peruvian archaeology, Incan religion, mummies, Andean daily life, and ethnography. Particularly desirable for collectors of drug history, medical history, ethnobotany, pharmacology, Latin American travel, and occult or esoteric material relating to sacred plants and altered states.