Jul 15, 2021 - Sale 2576

Sale 2576 - Lot 94

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
Bocker, Dorothy (b. 1888)
Birth Control Methods.

New York: Birth Control Clinical Research, [1924].

First edition, octavo, copy number 1604, initialed J.M.G. by the former physician owner; the publication expressly published only for the use of medical professionals, 31 pages, saddle stapled with publisher's original brown heavy paper covers with title and author on front cover; illustrated with four full pages of plates reproducing photographs of birth control devices and products (some foxing to plates, covers somewhat thumbed, generally good), 9 1/4 x 6 in.

Bocker worked with Margaret Sanger for some years in women's birth control. In this work, Bocker recounts the results of a study she had just finished. "Since January 1, 1923, the full-time efforts of a physician have been devoted to testing various devices, methods, and procedures. Work has been done with 1,208 patients, aggregating 1,558 cases, strictly within the legal boundaries set forth by Judge Frederick Crane of the New York Court of Appeals." Of the 1,208 patients in the study, 800 used some method of contraception. Bocker's conclusions are stark. Nursing baby, failure 100 percent; "holding back," failure 100%; condom, failure 100%; douche, failure 100%; sponge, failure 100%; and so on. She does offer some successful alternatives. Along with the helpful image gallery, she includes brand names, descriptions of various devices, pharmaceutical preparations, and the names of pharmacies and manufacturers where doctors could obtain such products for their female patients.